'ere tree down some day, for he guessed it would make enough rails to
fence the side of a ten acre field"

* * * * * *
[* "On the road to Guelph, a short distance from Galt, there is an
uncleared portion of the primeval forest, on the edge of the township
of Beverly, where, in those days, a small tavern, convenient to rest
the horses of travellers, was situated. One day, when I stopped at this
house, while my horse was taking his corn, I strayed into the woods,
not many hundred yards, and came to a tree, the most stupendous I had
ever seen.

"At the first glance, the trunk reminded me of the London Monument, an
effect of the amaze which the greatness of its dimensions produced. I
measured its girth, however, at the height of a man from the ground,
and it was thirty-three feet, above which the trunk rose without a
branch to the height of at least eighty feet, crowned with vast
branches.

"This was an oak, probably the greatest known, and it lifted its head
far above the rest of the forest. The trees around, myrmidons of
inferior growth, were large, massy, and vigorous, but possessed none of
the patriarchal antiquity with which that magnificent 'monarch of the
woods' was invested. I think, therefore, that I was not wrong in
imagining it the scion of a forest that had passed away, the ancestral
predecessor of the present woods.

"Had I been convinced it was perfectly sound, I would have taken
measures for cutting it down and sending home planks of it to Windsor
Castle. The fate that awaited it would have justified the profanation.