CHAP. CV.

Co ryla’ceas. que'rcus.

1761

an arrow, shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell at a stag, glanced and struck KingWilliam II., surnamed Rufus, on the breast, of which stroke he instantlydied, on the 2d of August, 1100.” “King William II. being thus slain,was laid in a cart belonging to one Purkess, and drawn from hence to Win-chester, and buried in the cathedral church of that city.” “ That the spotwhere an event so memorable happened might not hereafter be unknown,this stone was set up by John Lord Delaware, who has seen the tree growingin this place.” ( Gilpin’s Forest Seen., i. p. 167.) This stone was erected in1745 ; and it is said that, in the reign of Charles II., the oak was paled roundby that monarch’s command, in order to its preservation. This tree appears tohave blossomed at Christmas, like the Cadenham Oak, mentioned below.

The Cadenham Oak, about three miles from Lyndhurst, is another of theremarkable trees of the New Forest. This tree, which buds every year atChristmas, is mentioned by Camden. “ Having often heard of this oak,”says Gilpin, “ I took a ride to see it on the 29th of December, 1781. It waspointed out to me among several other oaks, surrounded by a little foreststream, winding round a knoll on which they stood. It is a tall straightplant, of no great age, and apparently vigorous, except that its top has beeninjured, from which several branches issue in the form of pollard shoots. Itwas entirely bare of leaves, as far as I could discern, when I saw it, and un-distinguishable from the other oaks in its neighbourhood; except that itsbark seemed rather smoother, occasioned, I apprehended, only by frequentclimbing. Having had the account of its early budding confirmed on the spot,

I engaged one Michael Lawrence, who kept the White Hart, a small alehousein the neighbourhood, to send me some of the leaves to Vicar’s Hill as soonas they should appear. The man, who had not the least doubt about thematter, kept his word, and sent me several twigs on the 5th of January, 1782,a few hours after they had been gathered. The leaves were fairly expanded,and about 1 in. in length. From some of the buds two leaves had unsheathedthemselves, but, in general, only one.” (For. Seen., i. p. 171.) One of theyoung trees raised from this oak at Bulstrode was not only in leaf, but hadits flower buds perfectly formed, on December 21. 1781; so that this propertyof coming early into leaf had been communicated to its offspring. “ Theearly spring of the Cadenham Oak,” Gilpin continues, “ is of very short du-ration. The buds, after unfolding themselves, make no further progress, butimmediately shrink from the season, and die. The tree continues torpid, likeother deciduous trees, during the remainder of the winter, and vegetatesagain in the spring, at the usual season.” When “ in full leaf in the middleof summer, it appeared, both in its form and foliage, exactly like other oaks.”(Ibid., p. 174.) Another tree, with the same property of early germination,has been found near the spot where Rufus’s monument stands. This seemsto authenticate Camden’s account of the death of that prince; for he speaksof the premature vegetation of the tree against which Tyrrell’s arrowglanced; and this may be one of its descendants. (See Camden’s Account ofthe New Forest.)

The Bentley Oak, in Holt Forest, according to a letter from R. Marsham,Esq., in the Bath Society’s Papers, was, in 1759, 34 ft. in circumference at7 ft. from the ground, and was found, 20 years afterwards (viz. in 1778), tohave increased only half an inch. Mr. Marsham accounts for taking themeasure so far from the ground, by mentioning that there was an excres-cence about 5 ft. or 6 ft. high,’which would have rendered the measure unfair.At Beaulieu Abbey, Gilpin observes, there was, some years ago, “ a veryextraordinary instance of vegetation. The main stem of an oak arose incontact with a part of the wall, which was entire, and extended one of itsprincipal limbs along the summit of it. This limb, at the distance of a fewyards from the parent tree, finding a fissure in the wall, in which there mightprobably be some deposit of soil, shot a root through it into the earth.Thence shooting up again through another part of the wall, it formed a newstem, as large as the original tree; and from this proceeded another horizontal

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