of the part of the plate in which they are seen. Judging from their appearance, we should guess their
age, at the time they were figured, at about thirty years. The engravings themselves are without
date; but the names of the artist, engraver, and publisher,
are engraved at their foot; and we learn from Mr. G. W.
Reid, the head of the print department in the British
Museum, that they were published in 1753. This, supposing
our estimate of the age of the trees in the plate
to be correct, would make the date of their birth about
1723.
The form of the Cedars in this plate shews that they
had been pruned up in the mop fashion. Those on the
south side of Chiswick House (which are the trees delineated),
still bear marks of having been so treated, all
having straight bare stems; and we know from other sources that this was a favourite mode of treating
the Cedar when first introduced. Whether in consequence of this treatment or not, there is a marked
difference between the size and health of the trees in the avenue on the north, and that on the south side
of the house, where the branches have not been pruned away, but actually rest on the ground; the
latter being considerably larger (the two largest respectively 16 feet 8 inches and 14 feet in girth, while
the girth of those on the north side is only 13 feet), and the tree which has been cut down, and another
opposite which the wind threatened to uproot, and which was propped up with massive beams like
a dangerous house, are both on the north side of the house, and are of those which have been
pruned.
But to return to the enumeration of our oldest Cedars, Loudon mentions that, according to a
tradition in the family of Ashby, whose seat is at Quenby Hall, in Leicestershire, one of the first Cedars
raised in England was from seeds brought from the Levant by Mr. William Ashby, a Turkish
merchant, and given by him to his nephew, George Ashby, who is supposed to have planted the old
Cedar in front of Quenby Hall, between 1680 and 1690.
Whoever was the first to introduce it, there can be little doubt that the example was speedily followed,
and that many people who had relations with the Levant must have received seeds after it once became
known that the tree would grow in the open air. The renown of "the Grove," and the numerous
pilgrimages to it, as well as its lying directly on the road to the interior, and only some 20 miles from the
sea, would render the procuring of seeds very easy.
The individual specimens of trees which have been planted, reared, or brought from abroad by
eminent persons, or which are known to have been planted at particular dates, or in celebration of public
events, have an interest of their own. There is a number of specimens with interest of this kind to be
found among the Cedars, and it may be worth while to preserve notes of those that we know for
future identification.
We have already alluded to the apocryphal traditions of Cedars planted by Queen Elizabeth and
Sir Walter Raleigh. Among the realities, we have mentioned those planted by Evelyn, by Sir Stephen
Fox, by Collinson, by Dr. Uvedale, and by Jussieu. Besides these, wc may note the following, of which
we have cognisance. At Barne, near Beaconsfield, there are many Cedars that are said to have been
planted by Waller the poet. But we should doubt this, because Waller died in 1687, only some seven
years after the date which we have accepted as that of the introduction of the Cedar; and when, moreover,
he must have planted them at an age (82) when, as Johnson tells us, "he for age could neither
read nor write." Still it is possible. He retained his faculties to the last, and the lines he composed
in his old age are considered not inferior to the effusions of his youth. He was buried at Beaconsfield,
where
where he lived. His mother resided there before him, and for a time after his returning from exile
he lived at a place called Hall Barn, " a house built by himself near Beaconsfield," and which, for aught
we know, may be the original of what is now called Barne. If he planted any trees near that place, it
must therefore probably have been between 1650 and 1687.
A tree often spoken of in old horticultural books as the " Hammersmith Cedar," was cut down in
1836, which had the reflected historical interest of growing in the garden of a house which was once
the residence of Oliver Cromwell, and in which it was said that he had signed the warrant for beheading
Charles I. It was of no great height (53 feet), considering its age, which was 118 years ; its girth was
15 feet 6 inches.
The Cedars at Wilton were raised by the Countess of Pembroke between 1710 and 1720, and were
kept in pots at her window, until, growing too large, they were planted upon the lawn. An earlier date
(1665) is assigned to them by a writer in the Gentlemans Magazine, but no reliable ground for preferring
that date is given : the former date is that adopted by Loudon.
At High Clere, in Berkshire, are several fine Cedars: the two oldest, which are not the largest, were
raised in 1739 from a cone brought from Lebanon by Dr. Pococke in the previous year. They were
transplanted to their present situation when they were 30 years old, and it may be due to this circumstance
that they have been outstripped by other specimens. The largest at High Clere was raised from
a cone borne by one of the Wilton Cedars in 1772.
At St. Anne's Hill, in Surrey, there is a tree whose date is known from its having been planted by
the Hon. Mrs. Fox in 1794. It was 50 feet high in 1837, being then 43 years of age.
At Powis Castle, there is a fine Cedar bank with about 150 Cedar trees in it, which were left in pots
when Edward Earl of Powis (then Lord Clive), went as governor to Madras in 1798. They were
planted out after his return in 1805.
At Further Barton, Cirencester, there is a specimen planted on 2d May, 1816, on the marriage of
Leopold with the Princess Charlotte, daughter of George IV.
At Pope's villa, near Twickenham, there is a Cedar which that poet must often have seen. It
was 85 feet high in 1837, when Loudon had it measured; but was only 12 feet in girth.
There is a specimen at Rossie Priory, near Johnstone, in Perthshire, which was planted by the
late Lord Kinnaird to celebrate the return of the Hon. Fox Maule, afterwards Lord Panmure, for
the county of Perth. Its height in 1863 was 33 feet 6 inches; and its girth, three feet from the ground,
4 feet 2 inches.
There must be many more memorial Cedars of which we have not heard.
Age and Rate of Growth.—The Cedar varies greatly in its rate of growth, according to locality,
and more especially is the difference great between that in its native mountains and in the moister and
more equable climate of England. We shall first look to its age and rate of growth in Lebanon.
In forming our opinion of the ages of the old trees there, the only data beyond dispute that we
have to guide us are the section of a limb of one of the oldest trees, which lay dead on the ground, and
of the trunks of two young trees brought home by Sir Joseph Hooker and Admiral Washington, in
i860. The sections of the trunks of these two young trees give 188 rings for the one, which is 16 inches
in diameter, and 178 rings for the other, which is 12i inches in diameter. The section of the branch
of the old tree is eight inches in diameter, exclusive of bark, and presents an extremely firm, compact, and
close-grained texture, and has no less than 138 rings, which are so close in some parts that they cannot
be counted without a lens. This specimen, further, is both harder and browner (almost as dark as
Laburnum, but redder) than any English-grown Cedar or native Deodar, and is as odoriferous as the latter,
and, as already said, even in the Museum at Kew still retains some of its fragrance. Sir Joseph Hooker,
[33] 1 2