( "3 ) 



not flrength to fupport itfelf ; and as the tree 

 grows old, it often becomes pendent alfo, 

 like the afh : whereas the toughnefs, and 

 flrength of the oak enables it to ftretch out 

 it's branches horizontally to the very laft 

 twig. I have feen an oak with pendent 

 branches j but it is not common. 



The fpray of the beech obferves the fame 

 kind of alternacy, as that of the elm : but it 

 ihoots in angles ftill more acute : the diftance 

 between each twig is wider j and it forms a 

 kind of zigzag courfe. 



We efteem the beech alfo, in fome degree, 

 a pendent tree, as well as the afh : but there 

 is a wide difference between them. The afh 

 is a light airy tree, and it's fpray hangs in 

 elegant, loofe foliage. But the hanging fpray 

 of the beech, in old trees efpecially, is often 

 twitted, and intermingled difagreeably ; and 

 has a perplexed, matted appearance, 

 whole tree gives us fomething of the idea 

 of an intangled head of bufhy hair, from 

 which, here and there, hangs a diforderly 

 lock; while the fpray of the afh, like hair 

 neither neglefted, nor nnically nice, has no- 



thin s 



