The method by which the horse's title to be considered the ablest in Scotland was ascertained, was ingenious. The horses the most renowned for fleetness and endurance were secretly collected, and having been deprived of water for a considerable time, were presently, one by one, permitted to bury their heads in the grateful bucket, and the duration of each draught was scrupulously watched and recorded; the animal that retained its nostrils for the longest time immersed being selected for the honour of rescuing the royal treasure, as having given proofs of its superior wind and bottom. Is any credit to be attached to the story: and if historical, can any reader inform me where it is recorded? C. A. St. John's Wood. GOSPEL OAKS. (Vol. v., pp. 157. 209.) The replies of FABER, EXON., and P. T. to the inquiry of STEPHEN, concerning the origin of Gospel Oaks, are not very explanatory. The oak was consecrated to the god of thunder--Ang.-Sax., _Thunor_; Gallic, _Taranis_; Irish, _Toran_; Anc. N. _Thorr_--as being more generally struck by lightning than any other tree; and the acorn was called by the Romans _Jovis glans_, the fruit of the supreme god. "Quercus Jovi placuit."--_Phædrus_, III. 17. "Magna Jovis antiquo robore quercus."--Virg. _Georg._ III. 332. At Dodona stood the δρῦς ὑψίκομος Διός.--_Od._ XIV. 327. Woods, groves, and trees were the temples and sacred emblems of the Deity among the greater part of the Pagans, but especially among the Teutonic and Celtic tribes. Maximus Tyrius, an author of the second century, informs us, concerning the worship of the Celts: "Κελτοὶ σέβουσι μὲν Δία, ἄγαλμα δὲ Διὸς Κελτικὸν ὑψηλὴ δρῦς." And Tacitus gives us the oldest testimonies concerning the Germans, _Germ._ 9.: "Ceterum, nec cohibere parietibus Deos, neque in ullam humani oris speciem assimulare, ex magnitudine coelestium arbitrantur. _Lucos ac nemora consecrant_, Deorumque nominibus appellant secretum illud, quod sola reverentia vident." Vid. _Germ._ 39. cap. 40. cap. 43., &c. Also, a passage of the later Claudian is to the same purpose: Ut procul Hercyniæ per vasta silentia silvæ Venari tuto liceat, lucosque vetusta Religione truces, et _robora Numinis instar Barbarici_, nostræ feriant impune bipennes. _Cons. Stilich._ I. 288.