1790 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
stoutness of its limbs. We know tree, except, perhaps, the cedar of Leba- 
non, so remarkable in this respect. The limbs of most trees spring from the 
trunk : in the oak they may be rather said to divide from it ; for they gene- 
rally carry with them a great share of the substance of the stem. You often 
scarcely know which is stem and which is branch; and, towards the top, the 
stem is entirely lost in the branches. This gives particular propriety to the 
epithet ‘fortes,’ in characterising the branches of the oak ; and hence its 
sinewy elbows are of such peculiar use in ship-building. Whoever, therefore, 
does not mark the ‘fortes ramos’ of the oak, might as well, in painting a Her- 
cules, omit his muscles. But I speak only of the hardy veterans of the forest. 
In the effeminate nurslings of the grove we have not this appearance. There 
the tree is all stem drawn up into height. When we characterise a tree, we 
consider it in its natural state, insulated, and without any lateral pressure. In 
a forest, trees naturally grow in that manner. The seniors depress all the 
juniors that attempt to rise near them; but in a planted grove all grow up 
together, and none can exert any power over another. The next character- 
istic of the oak is the twisting of its branches. Examine the ash, the elm, the 
beech, or almost any other tree, and you may observe in what direct and 
straight lines the branches in each shoot from the stem; whereas the limbs 
of an oak are continually twisting here and there in various contortions, and, 
like the course of a river, sport and play in every possible direction; sometimes 
in long reaches, and sometimes in shorter elbows. There is not a characteristic 
more peculiar to the oak than this. : 
“ Another peculiarity of the oak is its expansive spread. This, indeed, is a 
just characteristic of the oak; for its boughs, however twisted, continually 
take a horizontal direction, and overshadow a large space of ground. Indeed, 
where it is fond of its situation, and-has room to spread, it extends itself . 
beyond any other tree ; and, like a monarch, takes possession of the soil. 
The last characteristic of the oak is its longevity, which extends beyond that 
of any other tree: perhaps the yew may be an exception. I mention the 
circumstance of its longevity, as it is that which renders it so singularly pic- 
turesque. It is through age that the oak acquires its greatest beauty; which 
often continues increasing even into decay, if any proportion exist between 
the stem and the branches. When the branches rot away, and the forlorn 
trunk is left alone, the tree is in its decrepitude — in the last stage of life, 
and all beauty is gone.” Gilpin concludes this characteristic description with 
the following words : — “I have dwelt the longer on the oak, as it is confess- 
edly both the most picturesque tree in itself, and the most accommodating in 
composition. It refuses no subject either in natural or in artificial landscape. 
It is suited to the grandest, and may with propriety be introduced into the 
most pastoral. It adds new dignity to the ruined tower and Gothic arch : by 
stretching its wild moss-grown branches athwart their ivied walls, it gives 
them a kind of majesty coeval with itself; at the same time, its propriety is 
still preserved, if it throw its arms over the purling brook, or the mantiing 
' pool, where it beholds 
* Its reverend image in th’ expanse below.’ 
Milton introduces it happily even in the lowest scene : — 
* Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes 
From between two aged oaks.’ ” 
Some valuable remarks on the picturesque beauty of the oak, and on its deli- 
neation, will be found in the Magazine of Natural History, communicated by Mr. 
Strutt, unquestionably the best delineator of trees in this or any other country. 
“ European trees,” he observes, “ may by the painter be divided into four 
classes; the round-topped, as the oak, chestnut, elm, willow, ash, beech, &e. ; 
-the spiry-topped, as the different species of the fir tribe ; the shaggy-topped, 
«comprehending those of the pine; and the slender-formed, as the Lombardy 
poplar and the cypress. In the first of these classes, foremost in dignity and 
grandeur, the oak stands preeminent, and, like the lion among beasts, 1s the 
