In vol. vi. at p. 8. we read of "Frigedæges Tree," at Ginge, in Berkshire; at p. 60., of "Wiggerdes Tree," at Plush, in Dorsetshire; and innumerable other instances may be found throughout the book. These have occurred to me on just opening the volumes here and there, and are adduced merely to explain to persons unacquainted with the Codex Diplomaticus, the nature of the information upon this subject which it contains; and there are many other books from which similar facts may be derived.
The examples I have given exhibit the various parts which conspicuous trees were made to play in ancient times. The Holy Oak and Frigedæges Tree had, no doubt, been consecrated to superstition; the Hundred Tree marked a place for the general assembly of the people of a district; the trees distinguished by the prefixed names of individuals, indicated that they stood on the properties of private owners,—on lands, that is, which the owners had "called after their own names." The memory of many historical trees is probably preserved to the present day in the names of the fields in which they stood. How many Mickle Thorn coppices, and Broad Oak pastures, and Long Tree meadows, and Old Yew pieces are scattered over the country. How many hundreds, and other larger divisions of counties, are named after ancient trees. How many of the old Saxon names of our towns and hamlets indicate that they grew up around a well-known oak, or ash, or thorn, or yew; in like manner as, in later periods, when strength rather than law was the ruler, the people crowded together their hovels under the protective shadow of the castle of some powerful chieftain, or within the privileged precincts of some consecrated fane.
Having thus indicated, or rather enforced, a subject which I think well deserves the attention of your correspondents all over the world, allow me to conclude with a Query relating to a celebrated tree, of a comparatively modern date, which once existed in the neighbourhood of the metropolis.
THE GREAT ELM AT HAMPSTEAD.—Where did it stand? What was its ultimate fate? When and how was it compelled to yield to the great leveller? It is delineated in a very scarce engraving by Hollar, which bears the date of 1653, and which is found on a poetical commemorative broadside, printed in that year. This tree, although then in full leaf, or so represented in Hollar's engraving, was entirely hollow. A staircase of forty-two steps had been contrived within its stem, by means of which visitors ascended to a turret erected on the top, which was capacious enough to give seats to six persons, and to contain twenty persons in the whole. The stem of the tree was twenty-eight feet in compass on the ground, and the ascent to the turret was thirty-three feet. The tree must have stood on some of the highest ground at Hampstead, for it is said that six neighbouring counties could be seen from the top of it. The Thames is mentioned as visible from it, with its shipping; and the following lines indicate the wide expanse which it commanded. The lines were written just at the time when Cromwell was about to assume the Protectorate.
"Those stately structures where the court
Had late their mansions, when our kings would sport;
Of whom deprived they mourn, and, desolate,
Like widows, look on their forlorn estate:
'Tis not smooth Richmond's streams, nor Acton's mill,
Nor Windsor Castle, nor yet Shooter's Hill,