OAK TREE. 295 



Chatterton repeatedly compares the death of a warrior, 

 in battle, to the fall of an oak : 



" Jn his dcre hartcs blonde his longe launce was wett, 

 And from his courser down he tumbled dede. 

 So have I sene a mountayne oak that longe 

 Has caste his shadowe to the mountayne syde, 

 Brave all the wyndes, tho' ever they so stronge, 

 And view the briers below with self-taught pride ; 



But when throwne downe by mightic thunder-stroke, 



He'd rather bee a brier than an oke." 



Cowley compares the death of the gigantic Philistine 

 slain by David to a tree destroyed by thunder : 



" Down, down, he falls, and bites in vain the ground ; 

 Blood, brain, and soul crowd mingled through the wound ! 

 So a strong oak which many years had stood 

 With fair and flourishing boughs, itself a wood 

 Though it might long the axe's violence bear, 

 And played with winds that other trees would tear 

 Yet by the thunder's stroke from the root is rent : 

 So sure the blows that from high heaven are sent." 



The Oak is not so much used for ship-building as it 

 was formerly ; it was. in a great measure, superseded by 

 the fir ; and latterly larch-wood has been much in use 

 for this purpose. It has also fallen comparatively into 

 disuse for the building of houses and churches ; in some 

 old buildings where it yet remains, it has a handsome 

 and venerable appearance. It is styled, both by Chaucer 

 and Spenser, " the builder Oak ;" but the epithet now 

 may be as properly applied to many other trees. The 

 Oak, however,"*has furnished many superb vessels, and 

 the sailor will still maintain that his ship is " heart of 

 Oak. 11 



Pope thus addresses the Thames : 



