THE OAK. 87 



and enlarge externally, there is of course no physical 

 limit to the diameter it may attain, or to the number 

 and massiveness of its boughs and branches, or to the 

 multiplication of its twigs and leaves ; and should tho 

 lease of life allowed it in the Divine economy be con- 

 siderable, as happens with certain kinds of mimosa, 

 and with many of the pine and cedar kind, it may go 

 on growing and growing for ages, and after a thou- 

 sand years be still in the full vigor of its existence. 

 Hence it is that the grand scriptural image acquires 

 such richness arid force " As the days of a tree are 

 the days of my people." Hundreds of trees are 

 standing at this moment in America, some in Califor- 

 nia, others in Brazil, that were alive when those words 

 were written, and with a grasp upon life and the earth 

 that seems to assure them a period of which they have 

 perhaps no more than passed the middle. England 

 possesses multitudes of endogenous plants, though no 

 endogenous trees. Lilies, grasses, rushes, are all 

 structurally of the same nature as the palm-trees, 

 and now and then they give us a pretty prototype of 

 the palm ; but the beau ideal of the endogen, as said 

 before, belongs to the equinoctial regions. It is a 

 proud and inspiring thought for us nevertheless, that 

 art and the skill of the gardener allow us the sight of 

 them. By virtue of our hothouses and conservatories, 

 we who live in this age are introduced to the vegeta- 

 tion of every part of the world, without the trouble or 



