( 3' ) 



peculiar ufe in (hip-building. Whoever there- 

 fore does not mark the fortes ramos of the oak, 

 might as well in painting a Hercules, omit 

 his mufcles. But I fpeak only of the hardy 

 veterans of the foreft. In the effeminate nurf- 

 lings of the grove we have not this appearance. 

 There the tree is all ftem, drawn up into 

 height. When we characterize a tree, we 

 confider it in it's natural ftate, infulated, and 

 without any lateral preflure. In a foreft, trees 

 naturally grow in that manner. The feniors 

 deprefs all the juniors, that attempt to rife 

 near them. But in a planted grove all grow 

 up together ; and none can exert any power 

 over another. 



The next characteriftic of the oak taken 

 notice of by the poet, is the twifting of it's 

 branches : brachia tendit hie illuc. Examine 

 the am, the elm, the beech, or almoft any 

 other tree , and you may obferve, in what 

 direct, and ftrait lines, the branches in each 

 (hoot from the ftem. Whereas the limbs of 

 an oak are continually twifting hue illuc, in 

 various contortions \ and like the courfe of 

 a river fport and play in every poflible di- 

 rection ; fometimes in long reaches, and 

 fometimes in fhorter elbows. There is not 



a.cha- 



