In the church-yard of Aldworth, in Berkshire, is a yew tree, the trunk of which, four feet from the ground, measures nine yards in circumference. It is of considerable height: all recollection of its age is lost.
The Shelton Oak.—About a mile and a half from Shrewsbury, where the Pool road diverges from that which leads to Oswestry, there stands an ancient decayed oak. There is a tradition, that Owen Glendwr (Glynder) ascended this tree to reconnoitre; and finding that the king was in great force, and that the Earl of Northumberland had not joined his son Hotspur, he fell back to Oswestry, and immediately after the battle of Shrewsbury, retreated precipitately to Wales. This tree is now in a complete state of decay, and hollow, even in the larger ramifications. The following are the dimensions of the Shelton Oak:
| ft. | in. | ||
| Girt, at bottom, close to the ground | 44 | 3 | |
| Ditto, 5 feet from ditto | 25 | 1 | |
| Ditto, 8 feet from ditto | 27 | 4 | |
| Height of the tree | 41 | 6 | |
| Vide Gent. Mag. vol. lxxxi. p. 305. | |||
The Bowthorpe Oak, situate in the park between Bourne and Stamford—
“On a fine eminence, of slow ascent,
The landscape round stretch’d to a vast extent,”
—is the property of Philip Duncombe Pauncefort, Esq. The trunk is thirty-nine feet six inches in circumference. The inside of the body is hollow, and the lower part of it was formerly used as a feeding place for calves, the upper, as a pigeon-house. The late possessor, George Pauncefort, Esq. (in whose family it has been for many centuries,) in 1768 had it floored, with benches placed round, and a door of entrance: frequently twelve persons have dined in it with ease.
“———————crowds yearly flock to see
In leafy pomp the celebrated tree;
Charm’d to contemplate Nature’s giant son,
Fed by the genial seasons as they run.”
No tradition is to be found respecting it, it having, ever since the memory of the oldest inhabitants, or their ancestors, been in the same state of decay.
We conclude this chapter with an essay on the Upas, or Poison-tree of Java; by Thomas Horsefield, M. D.—From the Seventh Volume of the Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Java.
The literary and scientific world has in few instances been more grossly and impudently imposed upon, than by the account of the Bohan Upas, published in Holland about the year 1780. The history and origin of this celebrated forgery still remains a mystery. Foersch, who put his name to the publication, certainly was (according to the information I have received from credible persons, who have long resided on the island,) a surgeon in the Dutch East India Company’s service, about the time the account of the Upas appeared. It would be in some degree interesting to become acquainted with his character. I have been led to suppose that his literary abilities were as mean, as his contempt of truth was consummate.