CHAP. CV.

CORYEa'cE^E. QUE'RCUS.

1763

1599

A report existing that this tree had been cut down,we wrote to Lord De L’Isle on the subject, andare informed by His Lordship that the tree is innearly the same state as when drawn by Strutt(from whose plate our Jig. 1599. is a reducedcopy), with the exception of the loss of a largebough. The circumference, at 3 ft. from theground, is 30 ft. Lord De L’Isle adds that hehas no doubt “ that the date of the tree is anteriorto the birth of Sir Philip Sydney, although it iscertain that this oak (which goes by the name of the Bear’s Oak, from thefamily bearings) is the one alluded to by Waller.”

Merionethshire. The Nannau Oak, which was blown down in 1813, measured27 ft. 6 in. in circumference, and had for centuries been celebrated among theWelsh as the Hobgoblin’s Hollow Tree, “Dderwn Ceubren yr Ellyll.” Thiscelebrated tree was also known by the names of the Spirit’s Blasted Tree,and the Haunted Oak. The legend respecting it is, that Howel Sele, aWelsh chieftain, and Lord of Nannau, was privately slain in a huntingquarrel by his cousin Owen Olendower, and his friend Maddoc. The body,in which life was not yet extinct, was hidden in the hollow trunk of this treeby the murderers. Owen returned in haste to his stronghold, Glendewwrdry.Howel was sought for, but in vain; and, though groans and hollow soundswere heard proceeding from the tree, no one thought of looking in it. Aftera lapse of years, Owen Glendower died, and on his deathbed enjoined hiscompanion Maddoc to reveal the truth : he did so, and the skeleton of Howelwas discovered upright in the hollow of the tree, and still, according to thelegend, grasping a rusty sword in its bony hand. A ballad on this subject,by Mr. Warrington, is printed in the notes to Scott’sMarmion. This celebrated oak “stood on the estate ofSir Robert Williams Vaughan, of Nannau Park, who, afterits fall, had a variety of utensils manufactured from itswood, which was of a beautiful dark colour, approaching toebony ; and there is scarcely a house in Dolgelly that doesnot contain an engraving of this venerable tree, framed inits wood.” (Sat. Mag., 1832, p. 50.) Fig. 1600. is a re-duced copy of the engraving of this tree in the SaturdayMagazine, which is there said to have been taken from a •drawing made of it by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, only a fewhours before it fell.

Middlesex. The Chandos Oak {Jig. 1601.) stands in the pleasure-groundsat Michendon House, near Southgate, and is about 60 ft. high. The headcovers a space the diameter of +.. .& , 1G01

which measures about 118 ft.; ■"*'

the girt of the trunk, at 1 ft.from the ground, is 18 ft. 3 in.

It has no large limbs; but, whenin full foliage, “ its boughsbending to the earth, with ?almost artificial regularity of‘form, and equidistance fromeach other, give it the appear-ance of a gigantic tent.” Itforms, indeed, “ a magnificentliving canopy, impervious to the day.” {Strutt.)

Norfolk. The Merton Oak (Jig. 1602.) stands on the estate of Lord Wal-singham. It is 66 ft. high, and, at the surface of the ground, the circumferenceof the trunk is 63 ft. 2 in.; at 1 ft. it is 46 ft. 1 in.; the trunk is 18 ft. 6 in. tothe fork of the branches; the largest limb is 18 ft., and the second 16 ft. in„ c The Winfarthing Oak is 70 ft. in circumference; the trunk

5 Y 3

1600

circumference.