Not poppy, nor Mandragora, 

 Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, 

 Shall ever med'cine thee to that sweet sleep, 

 Which thou owedst yesterday. Shaks. Othello. 



Our common Poke-weed, Phytolacca Decandra, is 

 called the American Night-shade. 



OAK. 



Quercus. 



Quercus, supposed to be derived from the Celtic, quer, 

 fine, and cuez, a tree. The Oak tree was, also, called in the 

 Celtic tongue, derw whence came the word Druid, or Priest 

 of the Oak. 



The etymology of druid, preferred by Skinner, is the 

 Greek word j fU ;, signifying an Oak: "Which tree they held 

 sacred, and under which they offered their sacrifices." (See 

 Pliny and others.) " For I have no doubt," he adds, " that 

 the Massilian Greeks called these priests by this name, on 

 account of their worship of oak trees, from whom the word 

 was transferred to the Romans, and not that these priests 

 called themselves druids." 



Oak, E. Sax. ac, sec; Dutch eik or eikboom; Danish 

 eege-trsee. It is probable that the first syllable, oak, was 

 originally an adjective, expressing some quality, as hard, or 

 strong, and by the disuse of the tree, OAK became the name 

 of the tree. Webster. 



The Oak has no corolla, a calyx of one leaf, bell-shaped, 

 membraneous, with about five small sharp, often cloven, seg- 

 ments. The varieties of the species are too great, to at- 

 tempt a description of their foliage, and too well known to 

 require it. 



Several of the species yield the well known substance 

 called cork, particularly the Q. Suber, or Cork tree, native 

 of the South of Europe, and North of Africa. When this 

 tree is about fifteen years old, the bark, which is a remarkably 

 thick and spongy coat, may be stripped off, successively, for 

 about eight years; it immediately renews itself and, if not 

 removed, it is pushed up, by a second growth, forming under 

 that of the preceding year. Its quality improves with the age 

 of the tree. 



The oak attains to a great age. 



The monarch oak, the patriarch of the trees, 

 Shoots rising up, and spreads, by slow degrees: 

 Three centuries he grows, and three he stays 

 Supreme in state, and in three more decays. 



Dry den. 



Among the Romans, there were various kinds of crowns 

 distributed as rewards of military achievements. The civic 

 crown, made of a branch of green oak, was given to him who 

 had saved the life of a citizen in a battle or assault. This 

 was esteemed more honourable than any other crown. Virgil 

 calls it " civilis quercus." This crown was conferred on Ci- 

 cero, for detecting Cataline's conspiracy and, afterwards, 

 on Augustus Caesar himself. 



Most worthy of the oaken wreath 

 The ancients him esteem'd, 



Who in a battle had from death 

 Some man of worth redeem'd. 



Drayton. 



The oak was sacred to Jupiter, the great guardian of 

 their city; and the Romans might, therefore, deem it the most 

 proper ornament for him who had preserved a citizen. 



Ovid tells us: 



In witness of renown, 

 An Oaken garland did the victor crown. 

 The Laurel was not yet for triumph borne; 

 But ev'ry green, alike, by Phoebus worn, 

 Did, with promiscuous grace, his flowing locks adorn. 



OATS. 



JLmna. 



Jivena, supposed to be derived from aveo, to desire, or 

 covet, cattle being very fond of it. 



[Rees? Cyclopedia.'] 



" Oates, from the Anglo-Saxon Jit en, Avena : this, per- 

 haps, from the Saxon Etan, to eat; for, every where, it is 

 food for horses and, in some places, for men." 



[See Skinner.] 



So that Doctor Johnson's offensive definition of Oats: 

 " A grain which, in England, is generally given to horses; 

 but, in Scotland, supports the people," is only a specific ap- 

 propriation of what Skinner had left general; and is, there- 

 fore, not quite so original a piece of wit as it has been 

 thought. 



The English name Oat is seldom used in the singular 

 only in compound words, as Oat-meal, etc. The second de- 

 finition of Oat, in Johnson, is " Jl small pipe made of oaten 

 straw." And in Pitt's Virgil, we are told that " the musical 

 instruments used by shepherds, were at first made of Oat and 

 Wheat-straw, and were called Jlvena; then of reeds, and 

 hollow pipes of box afterwards of other materials. 



In Virgil, Shakspeare, Milton, and others, there is fre- 

 quent mention of this rural pipe of the pastoral ages. 



Then the shrill sound of a small rural pipe, 

 Was entertainment for the infant stage. 



Roscommon. 



When shepherds pipe on Oaten-straws, 

 And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks. Shaks. 



Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love. Same. 



In beachen shades, you Tit'rus, stretch'd along, 

 Tune to the slender reed your sylvan song. 



Virgil's Eclogues. 



Charm'd with Arcadian pipe. Milton. 



In the third eclogue of Virgil, we find an amusing contest 

 for supremacy, in music, between two shepherds: 



4- 



