in old times, a vast oak,* with a short squat body, and huge horizontal arms extending almost to the

extremity of the area. This venerable tree, surrounded with stone steps, and seats above them, was the delight of old and young, and a place of much resort in summer evenings, where the former sat in grave debate, while the latter frolicked and

* This oak was probably planted by the prior in the year 1271, as an ornament to his newly-acquired market-place. According to this supposition, the oak was aged four hundred and thirty years when blown down.-WHITE's Antiquities of Selborne.

out Gurdon, ran him down, wounded him, and took him prisoner. There is not, perhaps, in all history a more remarkable instance of command of temper and magnanimity than this before us that a young prince, in the moment of victory, when he had the fell adversary of the crown and royal family at his mercy, should be able to withhold his hand from that vengeance which the vanquished so well deserved. A cowardly disposition would have been blinded by resentment; but this gallant heir-apparent saw at once a method of converting a most desperate foe into a lasting friend. He raised the fallen veteran from the ground, he pardoned him, he admitted him into his confidence, and introduced him to the queen, then lying at Guildford, that very evening. This unmerited and unexpected lenity melted the heart of the rugged Gurdon at once; he became, in an instant, a loyal and useful subject, trusted and employed in matters of moment by Edward when king, and confided in till the day of his death. -WHITE'S Antiquities of Selborne.

danced before them. Long might it have stood, had not the amazing tempest in 1703 overturned it at once, to the infinite regret of the inhabitants and the vicar, who bestowed several pounds in setting it in its place again; but all his care could not avail; the tree sprouted for a time, then withered and died. This oak I mention, to show to what a bulk planted oaks also may arrive; and planted this tree must certainly have been, as appears from what is known concerning the antiquities of the village.

On the Blackmoor estate there is a small wood called Losel's, of a few acres, that was lately furnished with a set of oaks of a peculiar growth and great value; they were tall and taper like firs, but standing near together, had very small heads-only a little brush, without any large limbs. About twenty years ago, the bridge at the Toy, near Hampton Court, being much decayed, some trees were wanted for the repairs that were fifty feet long without bough, and would measure twelve inches diameter at the little end. Twenty such trees did a purveyor find in this little wood, with this ad. vantage, that many of them answered the description at sixty feet. These trees were sold for 201. apiece.

In the centre of this grove there stood an oak, which, though shapely and tall on the whole, bulged out into a large excrescence about the middle of the stem. On this a pair of RAVENS had fixed their residence for such a series of years, that the oak was distinguished by the title of the Raven-tree. Many were the attempts of the neighbouring youths to get at this eyry: the difficulty whetted their in

clinations, and each was ambitious of surmounting the arduous task; but when they arrived at the

swelling, it jutted out so in their way, and was so far beyond their grasp, that the most daring lads were awed, and acknowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous. So the ravens built on, nest upon nest, in perfect security, till the fatal day ar rived in which the wood was to be levelled. It was in the month of February, when those birds usually sit. The saw was applied to the but, the wedges were inserted into the opening, the woods echoed to the heavy blows of the beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall; but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from her nest; and, though her parental affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the ground.

LETTER III.

THE fossil shells of this district, and sorts of stone, such as have fallen within my observation, must not be passed over in silence. And, first, I must mention, as a great curiosity, a specimen that was ploughed up in the chalky fields, near the side of the Down, and given to me for the singularity of its appearance, which, to an incurious eye, seems like a petrified fish of about four inches long, the cardo passing for a head and mouth. It is, in reality, a bivalve of the Linnæan genus of mytilis, and the species of crista galli: called by Lister rastellum; by Rumphius, ostreum plicatum minus ; by D'Argenville, auris, porci, crista galli; and by those who make collections, cock's comb. Though I applied to several such in London, I never could meet with an entire specimen; nor could I ever find in books any engraving from a perfect one. In the superb museum at Leicester House, permission was given me to examine for this article; and though I was disappointed as to the fossil, I was highly gratified with the sight of several of the shells themselves, in high preservation. This bivalve is only known to inhabit the Indian Ocean, where it fixes itself to a zoophyte known by the name gorgonia.

Cornua ammonis are very common about this village. As we were cutting an inclining path up the Hanger, the labourers found them frequently on that steep, just under the soil, in the chalk, and of a considerable size. In the lane above Well-head, in the way to Emshot, they abound in the bank, in

a darkish sort of marl, and are usually very small and soft; but in Clay's Pond, a little farther on, at the end of the pit, where the soil is dug out for manure, I have occasionally observed them of large dimensions, perhaps fourteen or sixteen inches in diameter. But as these did not consist of firm stone, but were formed of a kind of terra lapidosa, or hardened clay, as soon as they were exposed to the rains and frost they mouldered away. These seemed as if they were a very recent production. In the chalk-pit at the northwest end of the Hanger, large nautili are sometimes observed.

In the very thickest strata of our freestone, and at considerable depths, well-diggers often find large scallops or pectines, having both shells deeply striated, and ridged and furrowed alternately. They are highly impregnated with, if not wholly composed of, the stone of the quarry.

LETTER IV.

As, in my last letter, the freestone of this place has been only mentioned incidentally, I shall here become more particular.

This stone is in great request for hearth-stones and the beds of ovens, and in lining of lime-kilns it turns to good account; for the workmen use sandy loam instead of mortar, the sand of which fluxes* and runs by the intense heat, and so cases over the whole face of the kiln with a strong vitri

*There may probably be also in the chalk itself that is burn ed for lime a proportion of sand, for few chalks are so pure as to have none.