diately under the spread of the limbs, fifteen feet; at four feet from the ground it measures thirteen feet; and its circumference immediately above the roots is nineteen feet. This singularly picturesque tree had one of its most important limbs torn away by lightning, in the summer of 1820. The second larch tree is twelve feet in girth, at three feet from the ground; and fifteen feet above the roots: and the third larch tree is eleven feet nine inches at three feet from the ground; and fifteen feet in circumference at the ground.

A yew, at the house of Rosedoe in Dunbartonshire, in 1795, at two and a half feet above the root, measured twelve feet six inches.

A yew in the island of Inch Lonach, or what is commonly called the Yew Tree Island in Lochlomond, measured on the 3d of August, 1770, was ten feet seven inches. This tree was about forty feet high; but another tree, which was the largest in the island, though not so tall, measured thirteen feet in girth. We know not whether these trees were sacrificed among the three hundred yew trees which were I cut on this island. There has been, for many years, a herd of deer which has prevented young trees rising from the seed. But many of those which have begun to decay, have sent up shoots from the root, close to the old trunk. A number of these coalesce, and form at last a complete new trunk, at the side of which the old one continues to decay. In this way the tree comes to be regenerated from the root. Besides this natural wood of yew, we may mention that, in the island of Bernera, adjacent to the Sound of Mull, the late Sir Duncan Campbell cut a yew of a vast size. Its precise dimensions were not preserved, but the timber of it deeply loaded a Highland six-oared boat, and was sufficient to form a large elegant staircase in the house of Lochnell, which was afterwards burnt.

One of the most beautiful yew trees we know is that growing in the garden at Ormiston Hall, a seat of the Earl of Hopetoun, in Haddingtonshire. It throws out its vast limbs horizontally in all directions, supporting a large and luxuriant head, which now covers an area of ground of fifty-eight feet in diameter with a most impenetrable shade. Above the roots it measures twelve feet nine inches in girth; at three feet up, it measures thirteen feet half an inch; at four feet up, it measures fourteen feet nine inches; and at five feet up, it measures seventeen feet eight inches in girth. It is in full health and vigour.

The yew trees of the group at Fountains Abbey are very curious in themselves, as well as historically interesting. Burton gives us the following account of these trees: "At Christmas, the Archbishop, being at Ripon, (anno 1132,) assigned to the monks some lands in the patrimony of St Peter, about three miles west of that place, for the erecting of a monastery. The spot of ground had never been inhabited, unless by wild beasts, being overgrown with wood and brambles, lying between two steep hills and rocks, covered with wood on all sides, more proper for a retreat for wild beasts than the human species. This was called Skeldale, that is, the vale of Skell, a rivulet running through it from the west to the eastward part of it. The Archbishop also gave to them a neighbouring village, called Sutton Richard. The Prior of St Mary's, at York, was chosen Abbot by the monks, being the first of this monastery of Fountains, with whom they withdrew into this uncouth desert, without any house to shelter them in the winter season, or provisions to subsist on; but entirely depending on Divine Providence. There stood a large elm in the midst of the vale, on which they put some thatch or straw, and under that they lay, eat, and prayed, the Bishop for a time supplying them with bread, and the rivulet with drink. Part of the day some spent in making wattles, to erect a little oratory, whilst others cleared some ground, to make a little garden. it is supposed that they soon changed the shelter of their elm for that of seven yew trees, growing on the declivity of the hill, on the south side of the abbey, all standing at this present time, except the largest, which was blown down about the middle of the last century. They are of extraordinary size. The trunk of one of them is twenty-six feet six inches in circumference, at the height of three feet from the ground; and they stand so near each other, as to form a cover almost equal to a thatched roof. Under these trees, we are told by tradition, the monks resided, till they built the monastery; which seems to be very probable, when we consider how little a yew tree increases in a year, and to what a bulk these are grown. And as the hill side was covered with wood, which is now cut down, except these trees, it seems as if they were left standing, to perpetuate the memory of the monks' habitation there, during the first winter of their residence." These magnificent trees are figured by Strutt, who tells us that they are most shamefully ill cared for, and subjected to be mangled by the axes of

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