of our songsters. Ought they not rather to point out to thoughtless schoolboys over whom they may have any influence or control (for schoolboys are the chief delinquents) the cruelty and folly of such procedure, and do their best to prevent it. Surely it should at the present day be instilled into the minds of the young that "He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small." It is pleasing, whilst speaking on this subject, to be able to state that several gentlemen in Olney and its neighbourhood have long exhibited their humanity and good taste by strictly forbidding the disturbance of nests in their gardens and plantations. We now gained the confines of Dinglederry and Kilwick; and as if to bring to our minds even more vividly the scenes in Cowper's poem, "The Needless Alarm," the cry of the hounds was heard as we passed through Kilwick Wood, and we stood aside to see the hunt ride picturesquely among the trees; whilst "With the high-raised horn's melodious clang The primrose had only just begun to show its yellow, but numbers of anemones were nodding their fragile cups about the tree stumps, and mercury stained the ground in dark green patches. Emerging from the wood our eye naturally roves towards the ancient tree, the object of our pilgrimage, and a few more steps bring us under its branches, the whole walk from Olney being about two and a half miles. How can we better speak of the veteran than in Cowper's own words, for though it has lost a few stout limbs and upholds a little more dead wood, it has not greatly altered since he wrote the poem entitled "Yardley Oak." Behold then a "hollow trunk" with "excoriate forks deform." "Time made thee what thou wast-king of the woods; For owls to roost in." Writing from Weston to Mr. S. Rose, September 11, 1788, Cowper says:— "Since your departure I have twice visited the oak, and with an intention to push my inquiries a mile beyond it, where it seems I should have found another oak much larger and much more respectable than the former; but once I was hindered by the rain, and once by the sultriness of the day. This taller oak has been known by the name of Judith many ages, and is said to have been an oak at the time of the Conquest. If I have not an opportunity to reach it before your arrival here, we will attempt that exploit together; and even if I should have been able to visit it ere you come, I shall be glad to do so; for the pleasure of extraordinary sights, like other pleasures, is doubled by the participation of a friend." The oak first referred to is that now called Cowper's Oak," and the one to which Cowper's noble poem is addressed. The second oak, the one called Judith, situated near Yardley Lodge, and a mile farther from Weston than the first, is now called Gog (the larger of the two trees Gog and Magog). As is easily seen by any one who visits these trees, Cowper's description of their situation is as clear as daylight. But he is not only clear-he makes a similar statement in another letter written September 13, 1788 (two days after), to Lady Hesketh. We quote from this also:-"I walked with him " (Mr. Gifford) "yesterday on a visit to an oak on the border of Yardley Chase, an oak which I often visit, and which is one of the wonders that I show to all who come this way and have never seen it. I tell them all that it is a thousand years old, believing it to be so, though I do not know it. A mile beyond this oak stands another, which has from time immemorial been known by the name of Judith, and is said to have been an oak when my namesake the Conqueror first came hither. And beside all this, there is a good coachway to them both, and I design that you shall see them too." Notwithstanding the perfect clearness of Cowper's description, almost every person who has hitherto spoken of the trees has curiously confused them, and it has been repeatedly, though erroneously, said that what is now called "Cowper's Oak" is the one that was formerly called Judith, whilst all mention as to the situation of the other tree has been forborne. How the mistake arose is easy to see. Hayley, instead of reading carefully Cowper's description, wrote to Dr. Johnson of Norfolk to ask for particulars. Dr. Johnson wrote in reply a letter which completely muddles up the affair. It may be seen in Hayley's "Life of Cowper." This letter misled Hayley, and has misled almost every person who has dealt with the subject ever since. The facts, then, are these. Firstly, the Yardley Oak, the tree to which the poem is addressed, the hollow tree, the tree said by Cowper to be 22 feet 6 inches in girth, is the one now called "Cowper's Oak," situated three miles from Weston, just beyond Kilwick Wood, near Cowper's Oak farm-house. Secondly, the oak at Yardley Lodge, the perfectly sound tree, the tree that was formerly called Judith, the tree said by Cowper to be 28 feet 5 inches in girth, is the one now usually called Gog, and is situated a mile farther from Weston than the last mentioned, near the old-fashioned farm-house of Chase Farm, which was formerly called the Ranger's Lodge. These facts, which are gathered from Cowper's letters, tally exactly with local tradition. Indeed, had it not been for Dr. Johnson's letter there would never have been any confusion. The name Judith, by which Gog was originally known, was possibly obtained from its having been planted by the Lady Judith, niece to the Conqueror, and wife of Earl Waltheof. The following memorandum was found among the poet's papers after his death :-" Yardley Oak, in girth, feet 22, inches 63. The oak at Yardley Lodge, feet 28, inches 5." The poem on Yardley Oak was written in 1791, but owing to Cowper's engrossment in other matters it was thrown aside unfinished, and never published during his lifetime. We owe its preservation to the diligence of Hayley, who alighted upon it after a long search among the piles of books and papers that had been consigned to his keeping. "I could hardly have been more surprised," observed the delighted biographer, "if a noble oak in its material majesty had started up from the turf of my garden, with full foliage, before me." Gog and Magog are both larger than "Cowper's Oak." Gog is now 32 feet in girth, measured at about 5 feet from the ground. Close to the ground, by reason of the huge protuberances and mighty roots, it is, of course, far greater. Magog, which stands at a distance of fifty yards from its tremendous brother, is 29 feet in girth, and its trunk is not nearly so irregular. XII. TWO OLD MEETING-HOUSES. I. THE BAPTIST MEETING. THE Upper or Baptist Meeting, or, as it has latterly been styled, in memory of its distinguished minister, the Sutcliff Chapel, is a quaint and exceedingly plain seventeenth-century Meeting-house, and presents, we should imagine, as regards internal arrangement, much the same appearance to-day as it did in the reign of King William III. It is oblong in plan; the pulpit, which is narrow, is placed against the middle of the back long wall, whilst to the other three walls are affixed cumbrous galleries supported by wooden pillars. The lofty panelling at the back of the pulpit attracts our attention, and our imagination furnishes it again with the large peg, "on which," in the words of Dr. Halley, "on occasion of funeral sermons hung solemnly the preacher's hat, with its silken tokens of mourning." We are interested too in that indispensable and often costly article with the early Dissenters, the great red cushion, with its tassels, or, as one old church-book has it, the "Pulpitt Quishion," whilst just below stands the stiff-looking deacon's chair. The pews are deep and perpendicular-backed, with doors fastened by wooden buttons. The larger pews, which are square, with green baize and rows of brass-headed nails, appear to be a modern innovation; for in the indentures of the Meeting-house of the 19th of January 1694 it is stipulated that "every such pew or seat shall not contain or extend above four foot and a half in length and four foot in breadth," a regulation of more importance than we in the present day might suppose, seeing that "the families who rented these great pews regarded them almost as private property, and would have been nearly as much offended |