( 33 ) 



Perhaps the yew may be an exception. I men- 

 tion the circumftance of its longevity as it is of 

 a nature lingularly pi<5hirefque. It is through 

 age, that the oak acquires its greateft beauty 5 

 which often continues increafing even into de- 

 cay, if any proportion exifl between the ftem, 

 and the branches. When the branches rot 

 away, and the forlorn trunk is left alone, the 

 tree is in its decrepitude the laft ftage of life; 

 and all beauty is gone. 



To fuch an oak, Lucan compares Pompey 

 in his declining ftate. 



" Stat magni nominU umbra. 

 Quails frugifero quercus fublirnis in agro 

 Exuvias veteres populi, facrataque geftans 

 Dona ducum ; nee jam validis radicibus haerens, 

 Pondere fixa fuo eft, nudofque per aera ramos 

 Effundcns, trunco, non frondibus efficit umbram* 



Spenfer hath given us the fame picture ; but 

 with a few more circumftances. 



A huge oak, dry and dead 



Still clad with reliques of it's trophies old, 

 Lifting to heaven its aged, hoary head, 

 Whofe foot on earth hath got but feeble hold, 

 And half difbowelled ftands above the ground, 



With wreathed roots, and naked armi^ 



And trunk all rotten, and unfound. 



VOL. i. D I have 



