OAK TREE. 291 



A Roman, who saved the life of another, was crowned 

 with a chaplet of Oak. There is an allusion to this 

 custom in Shakespeare's Coriolanus ; Cominius, speaking 

 of him, says, 



At sixteen years. 



When Tarquin made a head from Rome, he fought 

 Beyond the mark of others ; our then dictator, 

 Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight, 

 When with his Amazonian chin, he drove 

 The bristled lips before him : he bestrid 

 An o'erpressed Roman, andV the consul's view 

 Slew three opposers : Tarquin's self he met, 

 And struck him on his lance : in that day's feats, 

 When he might act the woman on the scene, 

 He proved best man i' the field, and for his meed 

 Was brow-bound with the oak." 



Act ii. Scene 2. 



Lucan also refers to it : 



" Straight Lelius from amidst the rest stood forth, 

 An old centurion of distinguished worth ; 

 The oaken wreath his hardy temples wore, 

 Mark of a citizen preserved he bore." 



ROWE'S Lucan, book i. 



Boughs of Oak were carried in nuptial ceremonies : 

 " With boughs of oak was graced the nuptial train." 



The religious ceremonies of the druids were performed 

 under the shade of the Oak, which they venerated ; and 

 the cutting of the misletoe was an important ceremony 

 with them. They called this plant All-heal, from the 

 healing power it was supposed to possess in their hands. 

 They cut it at Christmas, with brazen hatchets : misletoe 

 is a parasite of other trees as well as of the Oak ; but it 



