CHAP. CV. CORYLA‘CEH. FA‘GUS. 1959 
** Oh, leave this barren spot to me! 
Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree! 
Though bud and flow’ret never grow 
My dark unwarming shade below ; 
Nor summer bud perfume the dew, 
Of rosy blush, or yellow hue ; 
Nor fruits of autumn, blossom born, 
My green and glossy leaves adorn’; 
Nor murmuring tribes from me derive 
Th’ ambrosial amber of the hive; 
Yet leave this barren spot to me: 
Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree! 
Thrice twenty summers I have seen 
The sky grow bright, the forest green ; 
And many a wintry wind have stood 
In bloomless, fruitless solitude, 
Since childhood in my pleasant bower 
First spent its sweet and sportive hour ; 
Since youthful lovers in my shade 
Their vows of truth and rapture made, 
And on my trunk’s surviving frame 
Carved many a long forgotten name. 
Oh! by the sighs of gentle sound, 
First breathed upon this sacred ground ; 
By all that love has whisper’d there, 
Or beauty heard with ravish’d ear ; 
As Love’s own altar, honour me : 
Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!” CAMPBELL, 
The lines of Wordsworth are the following : — 
—* A single beech tree grew 
Within the grove of firs ; and in the fork 
Of that one beech appear'd a thrush’s nest ; 
A last “hg nest, conspicuously built, 
At such small elevation from the ground, 
As gave sure sign that they who in that house 
Of nature and of love had made their home, 
Amid the fir trees all the summer long, 
Dwelt in a tranquil spot.” 
The finest beech trees in Britain are said to grow in Hampshire ; and there 
is a curious legend respecting those in the Forest of St. Leonard, in that 
county. This forest, which was the abode of St. Leonard, abounds in noble 
beech trees ; and the saint was particularly fond of reposing under their shade; 
but, when he did so, he was annoyed during the day by vipers, and at night 
by the singing of the nightingale. Accordingly, he prayed that they might be 
removed; and such was the efficacy of his prayers, that, since his time, in 
that forest, 
“« The viper has ne’er been known to sting, 
Or the nightingale e’er heard to sing.” 
Properties and Uses. The beech, in a state of nature, affords food to wild 
pigeons and other birds, and to squirrels, deer, wild swine, and other 
animals, in autumn; but, in spring and summer, its leaves are eaten but 
by very few insects. It affords shade to cattle, who do not readily eat 
either its leaves or branches; but, by the density of its foliage, it destroys 
the grass, and almost every other plant that grows beneath its shade, 
except the holly, and sometimes the box, and the truffle and some other fungi. 
Subjected to man, the beech is chiefly valued for its timber, which is ap- 
plied to a great variety of purposes, though to none of much importance either 
for house or ship building. The wood, which, when green, is harder than 
that of any of our British timber trees, weighs, when in this state, 65 |b. 
13 oz. per cubic foot; half-dry, it weighs 56 lb. 6 oz.; and quite dry, 50 lb. 3 oz. 
The wood, when the tree has grown in good soil, and on plains, has a some- 
what reddish tinge; but in poor soils, and on mountains, it is whitish. Its 
transverse fibres are very obvious; sometimes forming distinct and rather 
dark lines, and at other times showing shining dense laminz, of a darker 
colour than the rest of the wood. In quality, it is hard, brittle, and very apt 
to be devoured by insects ; and, though in beech forests, where the trees have 
been drawn up by one another, beams may frequently be had 100 ft. in length, 
they are seldom, if ever, employed in carpentry. The durability of the wood 
‘is said to be increased by steeping it in water; and, according to some, by dis- 
