THE OAK. 9 



the necessities of the various realms of nature harmonized one to the 

 other. The little quadruped fulfils an instinct proper and needful to 

 its own existence, and in so doing, contributes to the perpetuation of 

 the tree. 



Eepresentatively that is, as viewed by the light of poetry, which 

 means, in turn, by the keenest insight of the mind, that penetrating 

 below the surface, and beholding the centres of things, brings out their 

 highest value, that is to say, their Significance representatively, the 

 oak is strength, endurance, and dignity, holding the same place among 

 trees that the lion does among animals, and the eagle among birds. 

 Hence we find it many times referred to in Scripture, and always in 

 connection with what is understood to be permanent and enduring, 

 as when the tables of the law are described as having been set up against 

 an oak, to signify that the law was given to last for ever. It would 

 be a very trifling piece of information for the dignity of Scripture to 

 communicate, if it were no more than the bare physical fact that the 

 tables were placed against an oak. Scripture always means something 

 it does not simply speak. It is not a book of words, but of ideas, 

 speaking for all time ; which kind of language results from the facts that 

 it records being not simply literal but representative. It is literally 

 true, without doubt, that the tables were placed against an oak; it is 

 no less true that an oak was chosen because of its symbolic meaning 

 for all ages. The poetical character of the oak is beautifully acknow- 

 ledged again in the time-honoured allusion to the defenders of our 

 country as " hearts-of-oak." No one disputes the fact that our sailors 

 are made of this capital material; yet how absurd the statement if 

 taken in any other light than that of poetry ! This shows that although 

 much which holds the form and outward show of poetry may be 

 unmeaning and foolish, the inmost and true spirit of poetry finds a 

 response in universal human nature, and that its genuine language 

 will ever bear interpreting. 



The oak is not only a tree ; it is a garden and a country ; for living 

 things innumerable find their homes, and security, either among the 

 branches or upon some portion of the surface. Birds, insects, epiphytic 

 plants, are identified with the natural history of the oak to the number 

 probably of several hundreds ; so that to study the inmates of an oak- 

 tree, is literally like exploring the streets and squares of a populous 

 town, and taking a census of the occupations of the inhabitants. There 

 is no special or particular bird found only or chiefly amid the foliage, 

 nor indeed are birds ordinarily found in definite kinds of trees ; only 



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