[Pyrus.[M]Nat. Ord.—Rosaceæ; Linn.—Icosand. Pentag.]
[M]Generic characters.Calyx superior, monosepalous, 5-cleft. Petals 5. Styles 2 to 5. Fruit apome, 5-celled, each cell 2-seeded, cartilaginous.
[M]Generic characters.Calyx superior, monosepalous, 5-cleft. Petals 5. Styles 2 to 5. Fruit apome, 5-celled, each cell 2-seeded, cartilaginous.
TheMountain-Ash (P. aucuparia) is a native of most parts of Europe, and western Asia. It is also found in Japan, and in the most northern parts of North America. In Britain it is common in woods and hedges in mountainous, but rather moist situations, in every part of the island, and also in Ireland. It forms an erect-stemmed tree, with anorbicular head. When fully grown, like every other description ofPyrus, it assumes a somewhat formal character, but in a young state its branches are disposed in a more loose and graceful manner. In the Scottish Highlands, according to Lauder, "it becomes a considerable tree. There, on some rocky mountain covered with dark pines and waving birch, which cast a solemn gloom over the lake below, a few Mountain-Ashes, joining in a clump, and mixing with them, have a fine effect. In summer the light green tint of their foliage, and in autumn the glowing berries which hang clustering upon them, contrast beautifully with the deeper green of the pines; and if they are happily blended, and not in too large a proportion, they add some of the most picturesque furniture with which the sides of those rugged mountains are invested."
The stems of the Mountain-Ash are covered with a smooth gray bark, and the branches, while young, have a smooth purplish bark. The leaves are pinnate, downy beneath, serrated; panicle corymbose, with downy stalks; flowers numerous, white; fruit globose, scarlet, acid, and austere. Flowers in May and June.
Leaves, Flowers, and Fruit ofP. aucuparia.
The Mountain-Ash is almost always raised from seed, which may be sown any time from November to February. The tree grows rapidly for the first three or four years, attaining, in five years, the height of from eight to nine feet; after which it begins to form a head, and, in ten years, will attain the height of twenty feet. As it grows rapidly, even in the most exposed situations, it forms an admirable nurse-tree to the oak, and other slow-growing species; the more so as it is incapable of being drawn up by culture above a certain height,thereafter quietly submitting to be over-topped and destroyed, by the shade and drip of those which it was planted to shelter and protect. It is frequently planted for coppice-wood, the shoots being well adapted for poles, and for hoops, and the bark being in demand by tanners. The wood is fine-grained, hard, capable of being stained any colour, and of taking a high polish. It is much used for the husbandman's tools, goads, &c., and the wheelwright values it on account of its being homogeneous, or all heart. If the tree be large and fully grown, it will yield planks, boards, and timber. Next to the yew it was useful for bows—a circumstance we ought not to omit recording, if it were only to perpetuate the celebrity of our once English ancestors. It is named in a statute of Henry VIII. as being serviceable for this purpose. It makes excellent fuel; though Evelyn says he never observed any use, except that the blossoms are of an agreeable scent, and the berries offer such temptation to the thrushes, that, as long as they last, you may be sure of their company. Ale and beer brewed with these berries, being ripe, is esteemed an incomparable drink. In Wales, this tree is reputed so sacred, that there is scarcely a church-yard without one of them growing therein. And formerly—and, we believe, in some parts even now—on a certain day in the year many persons religiously wore a cross made of the wood.
Keats, in his early poems, notices the loftiness of this tree, and its waving head:
—He was withalA man of elegance and stature tall;So that the waving of his plumes would beHigh as the berries of a wild Ash-tree,Or the winged cap of Mercury.
In former days, when superstition prevailed, the Mountain-Ash was considered an object of great veneration. Often at this day a stump of it is found in some old burying-place, or near the circle of a Druid temple, whose rites it formerly invested with its sacred shade. It was supposed to be, and in some places still is esteemed to be, possessed of the property of driving away witches and evil spirits, and this property is recorded in one of the stanzas of a very ancient song, called theLaidley Worm of Spindleston Heughs:
Their spells were vain, the hags return'dTo the queen, in sorrowful mood,Crying that witches have no pow'rWhere there is roan-tree wood.
That the superstition respecting the virtues of this tree does exist in Yorkshire at the present day, we know, and of the truth of the following anecdote, related by Waterton, the author of the celebratedWanderings, we have not the slightest doubt; it is printed in one of his communications to theMagazine of Natural History:—"In the village of Walton," says Mr. Waterton, "I have two small tenants; the name of one is James Simpson, and that of the other Sally Holloway; and Sally's stands a little before the house of Simpson. Some three months ago I overtookSimpson on the turnpike road, and I asked him if his cow was getting better, for his son had told me that she had fallen sick. 'She's coming on surprisingly, Sir,' quoth he; 'the last time the cow-doctor came to see her, "Jem," said he to me, looking earnestly at Old Sally's house; "Jem," said he, "mind and keep your cowhouse door shut before the sun goes down, otherwise I won't answer for what may happen to the cow." "Ay, ay, my lad," said I, "I understand your meaning; but I am up to the old slut, and I defy her to do me any harm now!"' 'And what has Old Sally been doing to you, James?' said I. 'Why, Sir,' replied he, 'we all know too well what she can do. She has long owed me a grudge; and my cow, which was in very good health, fell sick immediately after Sally had been seen to look in at the door of the cowhouse, just as night was coming on. The cow grew worse, and so I went and cut a bit of wiggin (Mountain-Ash), and I nailed the branches all up and down the cowhouse; and, Sir, you may see them there if you will take the trouble to step in. I am a match for Old Sally now, and she can't do me any more harm, so long as the wiggin branches hang in the place where I have nailed them. My poor cow will get better in spite of her.' Alas! thought I to myself, as the deluded man was finishing his story, how much there is yet to be done in our own country by the schoolmaster of the nineteenth century!"
The Mountain-Ash, so esteemed among our northern neighbours as a protection against theevil designs of wizards and witches, is propagated by the Parisians for a very different purpose. It is used as one of the principal charms for enticing the French belles into the public gardens, where they are permitted to use all the spells and witcheries of which they are mistresses; and certainly this tree, ornamented by its brilliant scarlet fruit, has a most enchanting appearance when lighted up with lamps, in the months of August and September.
The varieties of the Mountain-Ash are:—
2.P. fructu luteo, with yellow berries. 3.P. foliis variegatis, with variegated leaves. 4.P. fastigiata, with the branches upright and rigid. 5.P. pinnatifida, with deeply pinnatified leaves.
[Morus nigra.[N]Nat. Ord.—Urticaceæ; Linn.—Monœc. Tetra.]
[N]Morus. Flowersunisexual;barrenflowers disposed in a drooping, peduncled, axillary spike;fertileflowers in ovate, erect spikes.Calyxof 4 equal sepals, imbricate in estivation, expanded in flowering.Stamens4.Ovary2-celled, one including one pendulous ovate, the other devoid of any.Stigmas2, long. Seed pendulous.
[N]Morus. Flowersunisexual;barrenflowers disposed in a drooping, peduncled, axillary spike;fertileflowers in ovate, erect spikes.Calyxof 4 equal sepals, imbricate in estivation, expanded in flowering.Stamens4.Ovary2-celled, one including one pendulous ovate, the other devoid of any.Stigmas2, long. Seed pendulous.
TheBlack-fruited, or Common Mulberry, is generally supposed to be a native of Persia, where there are still masses of it found in a wild state. It was first brought to England in 1548, when some treeswere planted at Sion, near London, one of which still survives. About 1608 James I. recommended by royal edict, and by letter in his own writing to the lord-lieutenant of every county, the planting of Mulberry-trees and the rearing of silk-worms, which are fed upon the leaves; also offering plants at three farthings each, and packets of Mulberry seeds to all who would sow them. Although the king failed to naturalize the production of silk in this country, he rendered the tree so fashionable, that there is scarcely an old garden or gentleman's seat throughout the country, which can be traced back to the seventeenth century, in which a Mulberry-tree is not to be found. It was at this time that Shakspeare planted the one in his garden at Stratford-on-Avon, which was known as "Shakspeare's Mulberry-Tree," until it was felled in 1756; and that it was a black Mulberry we learn from Mr. Drake, a native of Stratford, who frequently in his youth ate of its fruit, some branches of which hung over the wall which bounded his father's garden.—Drake'sShakspeare, vol. ii., p. 584.
In this country the Black-fruited Mulberry always assumes something of a dwarf or stunted character, spreading into thick arms or branches near the ground, and forming a very large head. The bark is rough and thick, and the leaves cordate, unequally serrated, and very rough. The fruit is large, of a dark purple, very wholesome, and agreeable to the palate. This tree is remarkable for the slowness of its growth, and forbeing one of the last trees to develope its leaves, though it is one of the first to ripen its fruit. It is also wonderfully tenacious of life: "the roots of one which had lain dormant in the ground for twenty-four years, being said, after the expiration of that time, to have sent up shoots."
The Black-fruited Mulberry will grow in almost any soil or situation that is moderately dry, and in any climate not much colder than that of London. North of York it requires a wall, except in very favourable situations. It is very easily propagated by truncheons, or pieces of branches, eight or nine feet in length, planted half their depth in tolerably good soil, when they will bear fruit the following year. It is now rarely propagated by seeds, which seldom ripen in this country. No tree, perhaps, receives more benefit from the spade and the dunghill than the Mulberry; it ought, therefore, to be frequently dug about the roots, and occasionally assisted with manure. The fruit is very much improved by the tree being trained as an espalier, within the reflection of a south wall. As a standard tree, whether for ornament or the production of well-sized fruit, the Mulberry requires very little pruning, or attention of any kind.
Leaves and Fruits ofM. nigra.
The Black-fruited Mulberry has been known from the earliest records of antiquity; it is mentioned four times in the Bible, 2 Sam. v. 23, 24; 1 Chron. xiv. 14, 15. It was dedicated by the Greeks to Minerva, probably because it was considered as the wisest of trees; and Jupiter the Protector was called Mored. Ovid has celebrated the Black Mulberry in the story of Pyramus and Thisbe; in which he relates that its fruit was snow-white until the commingled blood of the unfortunate lovers, who killed themselves under its shade, was absorbed by its roots, when
Dark in the rising tide the berries grew,And white no longer, took a sable hue;But brighter crimson springing from the root,Shot through the black, and purpled all the fruit.
Cowley, in the fifth book of his poem on plants, has given a very plain and accurate description of the apparently cautious habits of this tree. He also thus alludes to the above fable:
But cautiously the Mulberry did move,And first the temper of the skies would prove;What sign the sun was in, and if she mightGive credit yet to winter's seeming flight:She dares not venture on his first retreat,Nor trust her fruit or leaves to doubtful heat;Her ready sap within her bark confines,Till she of settled warmth has certain signs!Then, making rich amends for the delay,With sudden haste she dons her green array;In two short months her purple fruit appears,And of two lovers slain the tincture wears.Her fruit is rich, but she doth leaves produceOf far surpassing worth, and noble use.* * * * ** * *They supplyThe ornaments of royal luxury:The beautiful they make more beauteous seem,The charming sex owe half their charms to them;To them effeminate men their vestments owe;How vain the pride which insect worms bestow!
Besides the Black-fruited Mulberry, there are four other species sufficiently hardy to bear our climate without protection; but it will be here sufficient to give a short account of the White-fruited (M. alba) as the next best known, and as the species whose leaves are used in feeding silk-worms.M. alba, is only found truly wild in the Chinese province of Seres, or Serica. It wasbrought to Constantinople about the beginning of the sixth century, and was introduced into England in 1596, where it is still not very common. In the south of Europe it is grown in plantations by itself, like willows and fruit trees; also in hedge-rows, and as hedges, as far north as Frankfort-on-the-Oder. When allowed to arrive at maturity, this tree is not less beautiful than the fairest elm, often reaching thirty or forty feet in height. When cultivated to furnish food for the silk-worms, the trees are never allowed to grow higher than three or four feet being cut down to the ground every year in the same manner as a raspberry plantation. In France and Italy the leaves are gathered only once a-year; and when the trees are then wholly stripped, no injury arises from the operation; but if any leaves are left on the trees, they generally receive a severe shock.
The specific characters of the White-fruited Mulberry are—Leaveswith a deep scallop at the base, and either cordate or ovate, undivided or lobed, serrated with unequal teeth, glossy or smoothish, the projecting portions on the two sides of the basal sinus unequal. Thefruitis seldom good for human food, but is excellent for poultry. It is a tree of rapid growth, attaining the height of twenty feet in five or six years, and plants cut down producing shoots four or five feet long in one season.
[Quercus.[O]Nat. Ord.—Amentiferæ; Linn.—Monœc. Polya.]
[O]Generic characters. Barrenflowers arranged in a loose, pendulous catkin, the perianth single, the stamens 5-10.Fertileflower in a cupulate, scaly involucrum, with 3 stigmas.Fruitan acorn, 1-celled, 1-seeded, seated in the cupulate, scaly involucrum.
[O]Generic characters. Barrenflowers arranged in a loose, pendulous catkin, the perianth single, the stamens 5-10.Fertileflower in a cupulate, scaly involucrum, with 3 stigmas.Fruitan acorn, 1-celled, 1-seeded, seated in the cupulate, scaly involucrum.
The Oak, when living, monarch of the wood;The English Oak, when dead, commands the flood.Churchill.
Onour entrance into the Woodland, the eye first greets the majestic Oak, which is represented as holding the same rank among the plants of the temperate regions throughout the world, that the lion does among quadrupeds, and the eagle among birds; that is to say, it is the emblem of grandeur,strength, and duration; of force that resists, as the lion is of force that acts. In short, its bulk, its longevity, and the extraordinary strength and durability of its timber, constitute it the King of Forest trees. These and other characteristics of the Oak are graphically expressed by the Roman poet:—
Jove's own tree,That holds the woods in awful sovereignty,Requires a depth of loading in the ground,And next the lower skies a bed profound;High as his topmast boughs to heaven ascend,So low his roots to hell's dominions tend.Therefore, nor winds, nor winter's rage o'erthrowsHis bulky body, but unmoved he grows.For length of ages lasts his happy reign,And lives of mortal men contend in vain.Full in the midst of his own strength he stands,Stretching his brawny arms and leafy hands;His shade protects the plains, his head the hills commands.Virgil's Georgics, II.
"The Oak grows naturally in the middle and south of Europe; in the north of Africa; and, in Asia, in Natolia, the Himalayas, Cochin-China, and Japan, In America it abounds throughout the greater part of the northern continent, more especially in the United States. In Europe, the Oak has been, and is, more particularly abundant in Britain, France, Spain, and Italy. In Britain two species only are indigenous; in France there are four or five sorts; and in Spain, Italy, and Greece, six or seven sorts. The number of sorts described by botanists as species, and as natives of Europe, exceed 30; and as natives of North America,40. The latter are all comprised between 20° and 48° N. lat. In Europe, Asia, and Africa, Oaks are found from 60° to 18° N. lat., and even in the Torrid Zone, in situations rendered temperate by their elevation."
In Britain, the Oak is everywhere indigenous, the two species being generally found growing together in a wild state. It, however, requires a soil more or less alluvial or loamy to attain its full size, and to bring its timber to perfection; these being seldom attained in the Highlands of Scotland, where it is still abundant in an indigenous state. The two species,Q. robur, orpedunculata, andQ. sessiliflora, are readily distinguished from each other by the first having the leaves on short stalks, and the acorns on long stalks, the other by the leaves being long-stalked, and the acorns short-stalked. In full-grown trees of the two species there is little or no difference either in magnitude and general appearance, or in quality of timber.Q. roburbeing the most abundant, is called the Common Oak. Its twigs are smooth and grayish-brown: leaves deciduous, sessile, of a thin texture, obovate-oblong, serrated, with the lobes entire, and nearly blunt, diminishing towards the base; a little blistered, and scarcely glossy, with some down occasionally on the under side: acorns oblong, obtuse, much longer than the hemispherical scaly cup, placed on long peduncles. The distinguishing characters or the less common species,Q. sessiliflora, the sessile-fruited oak, are, leaves on longish foot-stalks, deciduous, smooth, and oblong, the sinuses opposite, and rather acute, the fruit sessile, oblong. In other respects it so closely resembles the other species, that of the numerous trees recorded for their enormous dimensions, age, and other peculiarities, the species is seldom particularized.Loudon believed that no important or constant difference exists between the mode of growth of the two kinds, individuals of both being found equally pyramidal, fastigiate, or orbicular. He considered, however, thatQ. sessilifloracould "readily be distinguished even at a distance, by the less tufted appearance, and generally palish green of its foliage in summer, and in winter by its less tortuous spray and branches, by its light coloured bark, by its large buds, and by its frequently retaining its leaves after they had withered, till the following spring."
Leaves, Flowers, and Fruit ofQ. robur.
The Oak, says Mr. Gilpin, is confessedly the most picturesque tree in itself, and the most accommodating in composition. It refuses no subject, either in natural or artificial landscape; it is suited to the grandest, and may with propriety be introduced into the most pastoral. It adds new dignity to the ruined tower and Gothic arch; it throws its arms with propriety over the mantling pool, and may be happily introduced into the humblest scene.
Imperial Oak, a cottage in thy shadeFinds safety, or a monarch in thy arms:Respectful generations see thee spread,Careless of centuries, even in decayMajestic: thy far-shadowing boughs contendWith time: the obsequious winds shall visit thee,To scatter round the children of thy age,And eternize thy latest benefits.W. Tighe.
The longevity of the Oak is supposed to extend beyond that of any other tree. It is through agethat the Oak acquires its greatest beauty, which often continues increasing, even into decay, if any proportion exists between the stem and the branches. When the branches rot away, and the trunk is left alone, the tree is in its decrepitude, the last stage of life, and all the beauty is gone.
Spenser has given us a good picture of an Oak just verging towards its last stage of decay:
—A huge Oak, dry and dead,Still clad with reliques of its trophies old,Lifting to heaven its aged, hoary head,Whose foot on earth hath got but feeble hold,And, half disbowelled, stands above the groundWith wreathed roots, and naked arms,And trunk all rotten and unsound.
He also compares a gray-headed old man to an aged Oak-tree, covered with frost:
There they do find that goodly aged sire,With snowy locks adown his shoulders shed;As hoary frost with spangles doth attireThe mossy branches of an Oak half dead.
Montgomery, too, does not forget to observe the longevity of the sturdy Oak:
As some triumphal Oak, whose boughs have spreadTheir changing foliage through a thousand years,Bows to the rushing wind its glorious head.
As we before noted, the beauty of almost every species of tree increases after its prime; but unless it hath the good fortune to stand in some place of difficult access, or under the protection of somepatron whose mansion it adorns, we rarely see it in that grandeur and dignity which it would acquire by age. Some of the noblest Oaks in England were, at least formerly, found in Sussex. They required sometimes a score of oxen to draw them, and were carried on a sort of wain, which in that deep country is expressly called atugg. It was not uncommon for it to spend two or three years in performing its journey to the Royal dock-yard at Chatham. One tugg carried the load only a little way, and left it for another tugg to take up. If the rains set in, it stirred no more that year; and frequently no part of the next summer was dry enough for the tugg to proceed: so that the timber was generally pretty well seasoned before it arrived at its destination.
In this fallen state alone, it is true, the tree becomes the basis of England's glory, though we regret its fall. Therefore, we must not repine, but address the children of the wood as the gallant Oak, on his removal from the forest, is said to have addressed the scion by his side:
Where thy great grandsire spread his awful shade,A holy Druid mystic circles made;Myself a sapling when thy grandsire boreIntrepid Edward to the Gallic shore.Me, now my country calls: adieu, my son!And, as the circling years in order run,May'st thou renew the forest's boast and pride,Victorious in some future contest ride.
We are sure that all who can appreciate beautifulpoetry will be gratified by the following pathetic lamentation of the elegant Vanier:—
—No greater beauty can adornThe hamlet, than a grove of ancient Oak.Ah! how unlike their sires of elder timesThe sons of Gallia now! They, in each treeDreading some unknown power, dared not to liftAn axe. Though scant of soil, they rather soughtFor distant herbage, than molest their groves.Now all is spoil and violence. Where nowExists an Oak, whose venerable stemHas seen three centuries? unless some steep,To human footstep inaccessible,Defend a favour'd plant. Now, if some sireLeave to his heir a forest scene, that heir,With graceless hands, hews down each awful trunk,Worthy of Druid reverence. There he rearsA paltry copse, destined, each twentieth year,To blaze inglorious on the hearth. Hence woods,Which shelter'd once the stag and grisly boar,Scarce to the timorous hare sure refuge lend.Farewell each rural virtue, with the loveOf rural scenes! Sage Contemplation wingsHer flight; no more from burning suns she seeksA cool retreat. No more the poet sings,Amid re-echoing groves, his moral lay.
As it is thus a general complaint that noble trees are rarely to be found, we must seek them where we can, and consider them, when found, as matters of curiosity, and pay them a due respect. And yet, we should suppose, they are not so frequently found here in a state of nature as in more uncultivated countries. In the forests of America, and other scenes, they have filled the plains from the beginning of time; and where they grow so close, and cover the ground with so impervious ashade that even a weed can scarce rise beneath them, the single tree is lost. Unless it stand on the outskirt of the wood, it is circumscribed, and has not room to expand its vast limbs as nature directs. When we wish, therefore, to find the most sublime sylvan character, the Oak, the elm, or the ash, in perfection, we must not look for it in close, thick woods, but standing single, independent of all connections, as we sometimes find it in our own forests, though oftener in better protected places, shooting its head wildly into the clouds, spreading its arms towards every wind of heaven:
—The OakThrives by the rude concussion of the storm.He seems indignant, and to feelThe impression of the blast with proud disdain;But, deeply earth'd, the unconscious monarch owesHis firm stability to what he scorns:More fix'd below, the more disturb'd above.
Again, we are told that the foliage of the Oak is
Tenacious of the stem, and firm against the wind.
The shade of the Oak-tree has been a favourite theme with British poets. Thomson, speaking of Hagley Park, the seat of his friend Littleton, calls it the British Tempe, and describes him as courting the muse beneath the shade of solemn Oaks:
—There, along the daleWith woods o'erhung, and shagged with mossy rocks,Whence on each hand the gushing waters play,And down the rough cascade white dashing fall,Or gleam in lengthened vista through the trees,You silent steal; or sit beneath the shadeOf solemn Oaks, that tuft the swelling mounts,Thrown graceful round by Nature's careless hand,And pensive listens to the various voiceOf rural peace: the herds, the flocks, the birds,The hollow whispering breeze, the plaint of rills,That, purling down amid the twisted rootsWhich creep around, their dewy murmurs shakeOn the soothed ear.
Wordsworth also mentions the fine broad shade of the spreading Oak:
Beneath that large old Oak, which near their doorStood, and, from its enormous breadth of shade,Chosen for the shearer's covert from the sun,Thence, in our rustic dialect, was calledThe clipping tree: a name which yet it bears.
The Oaks of Chaucer are particularly celebrated, as the trees under which
—The laughing sageCaroll'd his moral song.
They grew in the park at Donnington Castle, near Newbury, where Chaucer spent his latter life in studious retirement. The largest of these trees was the King's Oak, and carried an erect stem of fifty feet before it broke into branches, and was cut into a beam five feet square. The next in size was called the Queen's Oak, and survived the calamities of the civil wars in King Charles's time, though Donnington Castle and the country around it were so often the scenes of action and desolation. Its branches were very curious: they pushed out from the stem in several uncommon directions, imitating the horns of a ram, rather than the branches of an Oak. When it was felled, it yielded a beam forty feet long, without knot or blemish, perfectly straight,four feet square at the butt end, and near a yard at the top. The third of these Oaks was called Chaucer's, of which we have no particulars; in general only we are told, that it was a noble tree, though inferior to either of the others. Not one of them, we should suppose, from this account, to be a tree of picturesque beauty. A straight stem, of forty or fifty feet, let its head be what it will, can hardly produce a picturesque form.
Close by the gate of the water-walk at Magdalen College, Oxford, grew an Oak, which, perhaps, stood there a sapling when Alfred the Great founded the University. This period only includes a space of nine hundred years, which is no great age for an Oak. It is a difficult matter indeed, to ascertain the age of a tree. The age of a castle, or abbey, is an object of history: even a common house is recorded by the family that built it. All these objects arrive at maturity in their youth, if we may so speak; but the tree, gradually completing its growth, is not worth recording in the early part of its existence. It is then only a common tree; and afterwards, when it becomes remarkable for its age, all memory of its youth is lost. This tree, however, can almost produce historical evidence for the age assigned to it. About five hundred years after the time of Alfred, William of Wainfleet, Dr. Stukely tells us, expressly ordered his college to be founded near the Great Oak; and an Oak could not, we think, be less than five hundred years of age to merit that title, together with the honour of fixing the site of a college. Whenthe magnificence of Cardinal Wolsey erected that handsome tower which is so ornamental to the whole building, this tree might probably be in the meridian of its glory, or rather, perhaps, it had attained a green old age. But it must have been manifestly in its decline at that memorable period when the tyranny of James gave the Fellows of Magdalen so noble an opportunity of withstanding bigotry and superstition. It was afterwards much injured in Charles II.'s time, when the present walks were laid out. The roots were disturbed, and from that period it rapidly declined, and became reduced by degrees to little more than a mere trunk. The faithful records of history have handed down its ancient dimensions. Through a space of sixteen yards on every side from its trunk, it once flung its boughs; and then its magnificent pavilion could have sheltered with ease three thousand men; though, in its decayed state, it could for many years do little more than shelter some luckless individual, whom the drenching shower had overtaken in his evening walk. In the summer of the year 1788, this magnificent ruin fell to the ground, alarming the College with its rushing sound. It then appeared how precariously it had stood for many years. Its grand tap-root was decayed, and it had hold of the earth only by two or three roots, of which none was more than a couple of inches in diameter. From a part of its ruin a chair has been made for the President of the College, which will long continue its memory.
Near Worksop grew an Oak, which, in respectboth to its own dignity and the dignity of its situation, deserves honourable mention. In point of grandeur, few trees equalled it. It overspread a space of ninety feet from the extremities of its opposite boughs. These dimensions will produce an area capable, on mathematical calculation, of covering a squadron of two hundred and thirty-five horse. The dignity of its station was equal to the dignity of the tree itself. It stood on a point where Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire unite, and spread its shade over a portion of each. From the honourable station of thus fixing the boundaries of three large counties, it was equally respected through the domains of them all, and was known far and wide by the honourable distinction of the Shire-Oak, by which appellation it was marked among cities, towns, and rivers, in all the larger maps of England.
Gilpin gives us a singular account of an Oak-tree that formerly stood in the New Forest, Hampshire, against which, according to tradition, the arrow of Sir Walter Tyrrell glanced which killed William Rufus. According to Leland, and Camden from him, this tree stood at a place called Througham, where a chapel was erected to the king's memory. But there is now not any place of that name in the New Forest, nor the remains or remembrance of any chapel. It is, however, conjectured that Througham might be what is at present called Fritham, where the tradition of the country seems to have fixed the spot with more credibility than the tree. It is probable that thechapel was only some little temporary oratory, which, having never been endowed, might very soon fall into decay: but the tree, we may suppose, would be noticed at the time by everybody who lived near it, and by strangers who came to see it; and it is as likely that it never could be forgotten afterwards. Those who regard a tree as an insufficient record of an event so many centuries back, may be reminded that seven hundred years (and it is little more than that since the death of Rufus) is no extraordinary period in the existence of an Oak. About one hundred years ago, however, this tree had become so decayed and mutilated, that it is probable the spot would have been completely forgotten if some other memorial had not been raised. Before the stump, therefore, was eradicated, Lord Delaware, who occupied one of the neighbouring lodges, caused a triangular stone to be erected, on the three sides of which the following inscriptions are engraved:—
I.Here stood the Oak-tree, on which an arrow, shot by Sir Walter Tyrrel at a stag, glanced, and struck King William II., surnamed Rufus, in the breast, of which stroke he instantly died, on the 2d of August, 1100.II.King William II., being thus slain, was laid on a cart belonging to one Purkess, and drawn from hence to Winchester, and buried in the Cathedral Church of that city.III.That the spot where an event so memorable happened, might not hereafter be unknown, this stone was set up by John Lord Delaware, who has seen the tree growing in this place.
I.
Here stood the Oak-tree, on which an arrow, shot by Sir Walter Tyrrel at a stag, glanced, and struck King William II., surnamed Rufus, in the breast, of which stroke he instantly died, on the 2d of August, 1100.
II.
King William II., being thus slain, was laid on a cart belonging to one Purkess, and drawn from hence to Winchester, and buried in the Cathedral Church of that city.
III.
That the spot where an event so memorable happened, might not hereafter be unknown, this stone was set up by John Lord Delaware, who has seen the tree growing in this place.
Lord Delaware here asserts plainly that he had seen the Oak-tree; and as he resided much near the place, there is reason to believe that he had other grounds for the assertion besides the mere tradition of the country. That matter, however, rests on his authority.
Gilpin likewise gives us the following account of the Cadenham Oak, in the New Forest, which was remarkable for putting forth its buds in the depth of winter. Cadenham is a village about three miles from Lyndhurst, on the road to Salisbury:—
"Having often heard of this Oak, I took a ride to see it on December 29, 1781. It was pointed out to me among several other Oaks, surrounded by a little forest stream, winding round a knoll on which they stood. It is a tall straight plant, of no great age, and apparently vigorous, except that its top has been injured, from which several branches issue in the form of pollard shoots. It was entirely bare of leaves, as far as I could discern, when I saw it, and undistinguishable from the other Oaks in its neighbourhood, except that its bark seemed rather smoother, occasioned, I apprehended, only by frequent climbing.
"Having had the account of its early budding confirmed on the spot, I engaged one Michael Lawrence, who kept the White Hart, a small alehouse in the neighbourhood, to send me some of the leaves to Vicar's Hill, as soon as they should appear. The man, who had not the least doubt about the matter, kept his word, and sent me several twigs on the morning of January 5, 1782, a fewhours after they had been gathered. The leaves were fairly expanded, and about an inch in length. From some of the buds two leaves had unsheathed themselves, but in general only one.
"Through what power in nature this strange premature vegetation is occasioned, I believe no naturalist can explain. I sent some of the leaves to one of the ablest botanists we have, Mr. Lightfoot, author of theFlora Scotica, and was in hopes of hearing something satisfactory on the subject. But he is one of those philosophers who are not ashamed of ignorance where attempts at knowledge are mere conjecture. He assured me he neither could account for it in any way, nor did he know of any other instance of premature vegetation, except the Glastonbury thorn. The philosophers of the forest, in the meantime, account for the thing at once, through the influence of old Christmas day, universally believing that the Oak buds on that day, and that only. The same opinion is held with regard to the Glastonbury thorn, by the common people of the west of England. But, without doubt, the vegetation there is gradual, and forwarded or retarded by the mildness or severity of the weather. One of its progeny, which grew in the gardens of the Duchess Dowager of Portland, at Bulstrode, had its flower-buds perfectly formed so early as December 21, 1781, which is fifteen days earlier than it ought to flower, according to the vulgar prejudice.
"This early spring, however, of the Cadenham Oak, is of very short duration. The buds, afterunfolding themselves, make no farther progress, but immediately shrink from the season and die. The tree continues torpid, like other deciduous trees, during the remainder of the winter, and vegetates again in the spring, at the usual season. I have seen it in full leaf in the middle of summer, when it appeared, both in its form and foliage, exactly like other Oaks.
"I have been informed that another tree, with the same property of early vegetation, has lately been found near the spot where Rufus's monument stands. If this be the case, it seems in some degree to authenticate the account which Camden gives us of the scene of that prince's death; for he speaks of the premature vegetation of that very tree on which the arrow of Tyrrel glanced, and the tree I now speak of, if it really exist, though I have no sufficient authority for it, might have been a descendant of the old Oak, and hence inherited its virtues.
"It is very probable, however, there may be other Oaks in the forest which may likewise have the property of early vegetation. I have heard it often suspected, that people gather buds from other trees and carry them, on old Christmas day, to the Oak at Cadenham, from whence they pretend to pluck them; for that tree is in such repute, and resorted to annually by so many visitants, that I think it could not easily supply all its votaries without some foreign contributions. Some have accounted for this phenomenon by supposing that leaves have been preserved over the year bybeing steeped in vinegar. But I am well satisfied this is not the case. Mr. Lightfoot, to whom I sent the leaves, had no such suspicion."
In theSalisbury Journal, January 10, 1781, the following paragraph appeared:—
"In consequence of a report that has prevailed in this country for upwards of two centuries, and which by many has been almost considered as a matter of faith, that the Oak at Cadenham, in the New Forest, shoots forth leaves on every old Christmas day, and that no leaf is ever to be seen on it, either before or after that day, during the winter; a lady, who is now on a visit in this city, and who is attentively curious in every thing relative to art or nature, made a journey to Cadenham on Monday, the 3d instant, purposely to inquire, on the spot, about the production of this famous tree. On her arrival near it, the usual guide was ready to attend her; but on his being desired to climb the Oak, and to search whether there were any leaves then on it, he said it would be to no purpose, but that if she would come on the Wednesday following (Christmas day), she might certainly see thousands. However, he was prevailed on to ascend, and on the first branch which he gathered appeared several fair new leaves, fresh sprouted from the buds, and nearly an inch and a half in length. It may be imagined that the guide was more amazed at this premature production than the lady; for so strong was his belief in the truth of the whole tradition, that he would have pledged his life thatnot a leaf was to have been discovered on any part of the tree before the usual hour.
"But though the superstitious part of this ancient legend is hence confuted, yet it must be allowed there is something very uncommon and curious in an Oak constantly shooting forth leaves at this unseasonable time of the year, and that the cause of it well deserves the philosophical attention of the botanist. In some years there is no doubt that this Oak may show its first leaves on the Christmas morning, as probably as on a few days before; and this perhaps was the case in the last year, when a gentleman of this neighbourhood, a nice and critical observer, strictly examined the branches, not only on the Christmas morn, but also on the day prior to it. On the first day not a leaf was to be found, but on the following every branch had its complement, though they were then but just shooting from the buds, none of them being more than a quarter of an inch long. The latter part of the story may easily be credited—that no leaves are to be seen on it after Christmas day—as large parties yearly assemble about the Oak on that morning, and regularly strip every appearance of a leaf from it."
At Elderslie, near Paisley, upon a little knoll, there stood, near the end of the last century, the ruins of an Oak, which was supposed to be the largest tree that ever grew in Scotland. The trunk was then wholly decayed and hollow, but it was evident, from what remained, that its diameter could not have been less than eleven or twelve feet.As to its age, we can only conjecture, from some circumstances, that it is most likely a tree of great antiquity. The little knoll whereon it stands is surrounded by a swamp, over which a causeway leads to the tree, or rather to a circle which seems to have run round it. The vestiges of this circle, as well as the causeway, bear a plain resemblance to those works which are commonly attributed to the Druids, so that this tree was probably a scene of worship consecrated by these heathen priests. But the credit of it does not depend on the dubious vestiges of Druid antiquity. In a latter scene of greater importance (if tradition ever be the vehicle of truth) it bore a large share. When the illustrious and renowned hero, William Wallace, roused the spirit of the Scotch nation to oppose the tyranny of Edward, he frequently chose the solitude of Torwood as a place of rendezvous for his army. There he concealed his numbers and his designs, sallying out suddenly on the enemy's garrisons, and retreating as suddenly when he feared to be overpowered. While his army lay in those woods, the Oak which we are now commemorating was commonly his head-quarters. There the hero generally slept, its hollow trunk being sufficiently capacious, not only to afford shelter to himself, but also to many of his followers. This tree has ever since been known by the name of Wallace tree.
In the enclosure known as the Little Park, in Windsor Forest, there is still standing the supposed Oak immortalized by Shakspeare as the scene of Hern the hunter's exploits:—
—An old tale goes, that Hern the hunter,Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest,Doth all the winter time, at still of midnight,Walk round about this Oak, with ragged horns;And then he blasts the trees, destroys the cattle,Makes the milch cow yield blood, and shakes a chainIn hideous, dreadful manner.Merry Wives, iv. 3.
This tree measures about twenty-four feet in circumference, and is yet vigorous, which somewhat injures its historical credit. For though it is evidently a tree advanced in years, and might well have existed in the time of Elizabeth, it seems too strong and vigorous to have been a proper tree, in that age, for Hern the hunter to have danced round. Fairies, elves, and that generation of people, are universally supposed to select the most ancient and venerable trees to gambol under; and the poet who should describe them dancing under a sapling, would show very little acquaintance with his subject. That this tree could not be called a venerable tree two centuries ago is evident, because it can scarcely assume that character even now. And yet an Oak, in a soil it likes, will continue so many years in a vigorous state, that we must not lay more stress on this argument than it will fairly bear. It may be added, however, in its favour, that a pit, or ditch, is still shown near the tree, as Shakspeare describes it, which may have been preserved with the same veneration as the tree itself.
There is an Oak in the grounds of Sir Gerrard Van Neck, at Heveningham, in Suffolk, which carriesus likewise into the times of Elizabeth. But this tree brings its evidence with it—evidence which, if necessary, might carry it into the Saxon times. It is now falling fast into the decline of years, and every year robs it more of its honours. But its trunk, which is thirty-five feet in circumference, still retains its grandeur, though the ornaments of its boughs and foliage are much reduced. But the grandeur of the trunk consists only in appearance; it is a mere shell. In Queen Elizabeth's time it was hollow, and from this circumstance the tree derives the honour of being handed down to posterity. That princess, who from her earliest years loved masculine amusements, used often, it is said, in her youth, to take her stand in this tree and shoot the deer as they passed. From that time it has been known by the name of Queen Elizabeth's Oak.
The Swilcar Oak, in the Forest of Needwood, in Staffordshire, was measured about 1771, and found to be nineteen feet in girth at six feet from the ground; and when measured in 1825 it was twenty-one feet four inches and a half in circumference at the same height from the ground. This proves that the tree is slowly increasing, having gained two feet four inches in fifty-four years, and yet it is known, by historical documents, to be six hundred years old. Though in decay it is still a fine, shapely, characteristic tree. It stands in an open lawn, surrounded by extensive woods. In a poem entitledNeedwood Forestthe author thus addresses it:—
Hail! stately Oak, whose wrinkled trunk hath stood,Age after age, the sovereign of the wood:You, who have seen a thousand springs unfoldTheir ravelled buds, and dip their flowers in gold—Ten thousand times yon moon relight her horn,And that bright eye of evening gild the morn,—Yes, stately Oak, thy leaf-wrapped head sublimeEre long must perish in the wrecks of time;Should, o'er thy brow, the thunders harmless break,And thy firm roots in vain the whirlwinds shake,Yet must thou fall. Thy withering glories sunk,Arm after arm shall leave thy mouldering trunk.
The Cowthorpe, or Coltsthorpe Oak, near Wetherby, in Yorkshire, had its principal branch rent off by a storm in the year 1718, when it was accurately measured, and found to contain more than five tons of timber. Previous to this mutilation, its branches are said to have extended over half an acre of ground. At three feet from the ground, this most gigantic of all trees is sixteen yards, or forty-eight feet, and close to the root it is twenty-six yards, or seventy-eight feet, in girth! Its principal limb projects forty-eight feet from the trunk. It is still in wonderful preservation, though its foliage is thin. It has been called the King of the British Sylva, and, indeed, it deserves the title, and proud we may be of such a king.
There were two trees in Yardley Forest, called Gog and Magog, which demand our notice on account of one of them having been celebrated by the muse of Cowper. The scenery in which they stood is hallowed by his shade. He was fond of indulging his melancholy minstrel musings among thewoodland scenery there. Gog, the larger of these two Oaks, measured thirty-eight feet round at the roots, and was twenty-eight feet in circumference at three feet from the ground. It was fifty-eight feet high, and contained one thousand six hundred and sixty-eight feet seven inches of solid timber. Magog was only forty-nine feet in height; but its circumference was fifty-four feet four inches at the ground, and thirty-one feet three at three feet high. These two trees were near each other, and although a good deal bared at the top by age, they were very picturesque. We shall quote here the whole of Cowper's Address to the "Yardley Oak"; from which it would appear that only one of them then remained:—
Survivor sole, and hardly such, of allThat once lived here, thy brethren, at my birth(Since which I number threescore winters pass'd)A shatter'd veteran, hollow-trunk'd perhaps,As now, and with excoriate forks deform,Relics of ages! Could a mind, imbuedWith truth from Heaven, created thing adore,I might with reverence kneel, and worship thee.It seems idolatry with some excuse,When our forefather Druids in their OaksImagined sanctity. The conscience, yetUnpurified by an authentic actOf amnesty, the meed of blood Divine,Loved not the light; but, gloomy, into gloomOf thickest shades, like Adam after tasteOf fruit proscribed, as to a refuge, fled.Thou wast a bauble once; a cup and ball,Which babes might play with; and the thievish jay,Seeking her food, with ease might have purloin'dThe auburn nut that held thee, swallowing downThy yet close-folded latitude of boughs,And all thine embryo vastness at a gulp.But Fate thy growth decreed; autumnal rainsBeneath thy parent tree mellow'd the soilDesign'd thy cradle; and a skipping deer,With pointed hoof dibbling the glebe, preparedThe soft receptacle, in which, secure,Thy rudiments should sleep the winter through.So Fancy dreams. Disprove it, if ye can,Ye reasoners broad awake, whose busy searchOf argument, employ'd too oft amiss,Sifts half the pleasure of sweet life away IThou fell'st mature; and in the loamy clod,Swelling with vegetative force instinct,Didst burst thine egg, as theirs the fabled Twins,Now stars; two lobes, protruding, pair'd exact;A leaf succeeded, and another leaf;And, all the elements thy puny growthFostering propitious, thou becamest a twig.Who lived, when thou wast such? O, couldst thou speak,As in Dodona once thy kindred treesOracular, I would not curious askThe future, best unknown, but at thy mouthInquisitive, the less ambiguous past.By thee I might correct, erroneous oft,The clock of history, facts and eventsTiming more punctual, unrecorded factsRecovering, and misstated setting right—Desperate attempt, till trees shall speak again!Time made thee what thou wast, king of the woods;And Time hath made thee what thou art—a caveFor owls to roost in. Once thy spreading boughsO'erhung the champaign; and the numerous flocksThat grazed it, stood beneath that ample copeUncrowded, yet safe-sheltered from the storm.No flock frequents thee now. Thou hast outlivedThy popularity, and art become(Unless verse rescue thee awhile) a thingForgotten, as the foliage of thy youth.While thus through all the stages thou hast push'dOf treeship—first a seedling hid in grass;Then twig; then sapling; and, as century roll'dSlow after century, a giant bulkOf girth enormous, with moss-cushioned rootUpheaved above the soil, and sides emboss'dWith prominent wens globose—till at the lastThe rottenness, which time is charged to inflictOn other mighty ones, found also thee.What exhibitions various hath the worldWitness'd of mutability in allThat we account most durable below!Change is the diet on which all subsist,Created changeable, and change at lastDestroys them. Skies uncertain now the heatTransmitting cloudless, and the solar beamNow quenching in a boundless sea of clouds—Calm and alternate storm, moisture and drought,Invigorate by turns the springs of lifeIn all that live—plant, animal, and man—And in conclusion mar them. Nature's threads,Fine passing thought, ev'n in her coarsest works,Delight in agitation, yet sustainThe force that agitates, not unimpaired;But, worn by frequent impulse, to the causeOf their best tone their dissolution owe.Thought cannot spend itself, comparing stillThe great and little of thy lot, thy growthFrom almost nullity into a stateOf matchless grandeur, and declension thence,Slow, into such magnificent decay.Time was, when, settling on thy leaf, a flyCould shake thee to the root—and time has beenWhen tempests could not. At thy firmest ageThou hadst within thy bole solid contents,That might have ribb'd the sides and plank'd the deckOf some flagg'd admiral; and tortuous arms,The shipwright's darling treasure, didst presentTo the four-quarter'd winds, robust and bold,Warp'd into tough knee-timber,[1]many a load!But the axe spared thee. In those thriftier daysOaks fell not, hewn by thousands, to supplyThe bottomless demands of contest, wagedFor senatorial honours. Thus to TimeThe task was left to whittle thee awayWith his sly scythe, whose ever-nibbling edge,Noiseless, an atom, and an atom more,Disjoining from the rest, has, unobserved,Achieved a labour, which had far and wide,By man perform'd, made all the forest ring.Embowell'd now, and of thy ancient selfPossessing naught but the scoop'd rind, that seemsA huge throat, calling to the clouds for drink,Which it would give in rivulets to thy root—Thou temptest none, but rather much forbidstThe feller's toil, which thou couldst ill requite.Yet is thy root sincere, sound as the rock,A quarry of stout spurs and knotted fangs,Which, crook'd into a thousand whimsies, claspThe stubborn soil, and hold thee still erect.So stands a kingdom, whose foundation yetFails not, in virtue and in wisdom laid;Though all the superstructure, by the toothPulverised of venality, a shellStands now, and semblance only of itself!Thine arms have left thee. Winds have rent them offLong since, and rovers of the forest wildWith bow and shaft have burn'd them. Some have leftA splinter'd stump, bleach'd to a snowy white;And some, memorial none where once they grew.Tet life still lingers in thee, and puts forthProof not contemptible of what she can,Even where death predominates. The springFinds thee not less alive to her sweet force,Than yonder upstarts of the neighbouring wood,So much thy juniors, who their birth receivedHalf a millennium since the date of thine.But since, although well qualified by ageTo teach, no spirit dwells in thee, nor voiceMay be expected from thee, seated hereOn thy distorted root, with hearers none,Or prompter, save the scene—I will perform,Myself the oracle, and will discourseIn my own ear such matter as I may.One man alone, the father of us all,Drew not his life from woman; never gazed,With mute unconsciousness of what he saw,On all around him; learn'd not by degrees,Nor owed articulation to his ear;But, moulded by his Maker into manAt once, upstood intelligent, survey'dAll creatures, with precision understoodTheir purport, uses, properties, assign'dTo each his name significant, and, fill'dWith love and wisdom, render'd back to Heaven,In praise harmonious, the first air he drew.He was excused the penalties of dullMinority. No tutor charged his handWith the thought-tracing quill, or task'd his mindWith problems. History, not wanted yet,Lean'd on her elbow, watching Time, whose courseEventful should supply her with a theme.