CHAP. CV. CORYLA^CE/E. Fa'GVS 1959 



" Oh, leave this barren spot to me ! 



Sjiare, woodman, spare the beochen tree! 

 Though bud and flow'rct never grow 

 My dark unwarming sliade 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!" CAVPBKi.f.. 



Tlie lilies 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 year's 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 

 count}'. This forest, which was the abode of St. Leonard, abounds in noble 

 beecli trees ; and tlie saint was particularly fond of reposing under their shade; 

 l)ut, when he did so, he was annoyed during the day by vipers, and at night 

 l)y 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 ajid 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 autunm ; 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, 6.5 lb. 

 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, lias 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 lamina?, 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- 



