6 THE OAK. 



a great ftrefs is to be borne, as in mill-work, 

 fleam engines, and the like. It is ufed for 

 the bodies of carts and waggons, alfo for 

 gates, ports, and ladders. In the country it 

 is a common material for furniture, fuch as 

 tables, bedfteads, and chefts of drawers j its 

 durability being thought a compenfation for 

 the difficulty of working it. The coopers 

 employ it for their largeft veffels, and for 

 well-buckets and water- pails. 



The oak may be termed not lefs the 

 poet's tree, than the artifan's. Some of the 

 firft poets, antient and modern, have chofen 

 it as an object either of direct defcription, 

 or of fimile; and that, not only in its flou- 

 rifhingflate, but in its decay. Thus Lu can, 

 in fome very fine lines, has made an aged 

 oak the comparifon of Pompey the Great, 

 at the time of his conteft for power with 

 Caefar, when, being little more than the 

 fhadow of his former fame, he ftill excited 

 awe by the remains of declining grandeur. 

 Our Spenfer has given an original picture 

 of the lame kind in the fable of the Oak 



and 



