The Tutbury Wych Elm is also figured by Mr Strutt. Shaw, in his History of Staffordshire, thus mentions this tree : "In the road leading from Tutbury to Rolleston is a very large and beautiful wych elm, the bole of which is remarkably straight, thick, and lofty, having eight noble branches, the size of common trees, which spread their umbrageous foliage luxuriantly around, forming a magnificent and graceful feature, both in the near and distant prospect." The trunk is twelve feet long, and at the height of five feet from the ground, it measures sixteen feet nine inches in circumference. The branches extend about forty or fifty feet on all sides of the tree; and it contains six hundred and eighty-nine cubic feet of timber. The site of this elm commands an interesting prospect of Tutbury Castle, intimately associated with the memory of "Time honoured Lancaster." It has begun to stag-horn at the extremities of some of the more important branches; but not more so than enough to give it a venerable and picturesque appearance; so that it is still in possession of all the beauty of age.

There are some very large wych elms at Pollock, in Renfrewshire, figured by Strutt. In 1802, the largest was ten feet ten inches in girth, at five feet from the ground; and in 1824, it measured eleven feet ten inches, at five feet from the ground; and eighteen feet one inch in girth, at the surface of the earth. Its height is eighty-eight feet; and it contains six hundred and sixty-nine feet of solid timber. It is near Crookstone Castle and the field of Langside.

A beautiful Scotch elm, at Hermandston, in Haddingtonshire, measures fourteen feet six inches in girth, at three feet from the ground; and eighteen feet nine inches in girth, at one foot above the roots.

The Chipstead Elm is particularly noticed, and beautifully figured, by Mr Strutt. It is an English elm, and stands on a rising ground in a retired part of the pleasure ground of George Polhill, Esq. of Chipstead Place in Kent, a descendant of the great John Hampden. It is sixty feet high, twenty feet in circumference at the root, and fifteen feet eight inches at three and a half feet from the ground; and it contains two hundred and sixty-eight feet of timber, notwithstanding its having lost some of its most important central limbs. It is a beautiful tree as to form, and its trunk is richly mantled with ivy. In the time of Henry V, the highroad from Rye to London

passed close by it, and a fair was then held annually under its branches.

In 1754, a fine wych elm, by Bradley church in Suffolk, at five feet above the roots, measured twenty-five feet five and a half inches in girth. In 1767, this tree was twenty-six feet three inches. A hollow wych elm, by Stratton church, at four feet above the ground, measured twenty-nine feet six inches.

The best elm we have recorded as of Scottish growth, was that in the parish of Roxburghe in Teviotdale, called the Trysting Tree, which was measured in the year 1796, and found to be thirty feet in girth. The ruins of this noble tree still remain at the Friars, near the old castle of Roxburghe. Mr Smith of Kelso informs us, that the most plausible tradition regarding the origin of the name of the Trysting Tree is, that the Lairds of Cessford and Fernyhirst, with a number of Scottish gentry, assembled there, in 1547, to meet the Protector, Somerset, during his rough courtship, and to swear homage to the King of England. There can be no doubt that he was there; and this spot, which was near the old minorite friary, was certainly a very likely place for such an assemblage. It is said that on the memorable occasion when the Castle of Roxburghe was taken by stratagem by the Earl of Douglas, on the night of Shrovetide, in the year 1313, his men assembled under this tree, and there arrayed themselves in the skins of bullocks, and stealing quietly out upon the lawn, on hands and knees, they led the sentinels on the walls to believe that they were cattle grazing. A woman, seated on the wall, was singing to her child, a rude rhyme of these olden times:

"Hush ye, hush ye, little pet, ye,

Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye,
The Black Douglas shall not get ye.",

“You are not so sure of that," said a voice; and at the same time a heavy iron gauntleted hand was laid on her shoulder; and when she looked round, she beheld the very Black Douglas himself, a huge swarthy man, standing behind her; at the same time, another Scotsman was seen ascending the walls. A sentinel gave the alarm; and couching his lance, he rushed at the Scotsman, whose nom de guerre was Sym of the Ledehouse. Simon parried the thrust; and closing with the sentinel, struck him a deadly blow with his dagger. The rest of the Scots followed up, to assist

Douglas and Ledehouse; and the castle was taken. Many of the soldiers were put to death; but Douglas protected the woman and the child. The Trysting Tree was also famous, in later times, as the scene of much innocent pleasure. After the Reformation, and until the present house of Fleurs was built, in 1718, the family of Roxburghe made an occasional residence of the remains of the religious house at Friars, which was then called East Roxburghe. The gardens belonging to it were kept up, until the year 1780, when old Coles, who was butler to Duke John, ploughed them up, and destroyed some beautiful vestiges of antiquity. In these gardens there was a raised walk, called the Lovers' Walk, between two rows of old elms, forming a vista, which terminated with the Trysting Tree, whither the beaux and belles of these old times used to resort, to enjoy themselves, on a summer evening, and to eat the fruit, which was always sold during the absence of the family. Upon these occasions the gentlemen were often made to walk blindfolded in the alley; and if any one failed to grope his way from one end of it to the other, without diverging from the grass into either border, he was immediately fined in a treat of fruit. What a picture would Watteau have made of so admirable a subject! Many a courtship was brought to a happy termination at this antiquated Vauxhall.

Mr Strutt also describes and figures a very old elm, at Checquers, in Buckinghamshire, which is supposed to be the oldest elm in England, having been planted in the reign of King Stephen. Its enormous trunk is now nothing but a mere hollow shell, from which, however, two large limbs arise, that subdivide into a number of branches, and bear a large head of foliage. The stem is thirty-one feet in

Dr Plot gives an account of a wych elm in Staffordshire, which was fifty-one feet in circumference at the butt end.

The Crawley Elm stands in the village of Crawley, close by the road leading from London to Brighton. Mr Strutt has given us a very admirable representation of its truly picturesque form. The trunk, towards the base, is most fantastic, swelling out in great bumps, calculated to puzzle the most experienced phrenologist; and then shooting up above, to the height of seventy feet. The main stem, however, seems to have been broken off, at some very distant period; and the trunk of it is perforated all throughout. This