

10 THE OAK. 



exception. I mention the circumstance of its longevity, 

 as it is that which renders it so singularly picturesque. 

 It is through age that the Oak acquires its greatest beauty, 

 which often continues increasing even into decay, if any 

 proportion exist between the stem and the branches. 

 When the branches rot away, and the forlorn trunk is left 

 alone, the tree is in its decrepitude in the last stage of life, 

 and all beauty is gone." 



The diameter of the trunk of the Oak, where it first 

 leaves the ground, is generally much greater than it is a 

 few feet higher. To this circumstance, and to the fact 

 that its roots are not nearly so liable to rot in the ground 

 as those of other trees, it may be attributed that it is very 

 rarely blown up by the roots. The eminent engineer, Mr. 

 Smeaton, is stated to have taken his idea of the form of the 

 Eddystone Lighthouse from observing the proportions of 

 an Oak trunk. Britton, in his "Beauties of Devon," thus 

 writes : " The object from which Mr. Smeaton conceived 

 his idea of rebuilding the Eddystone Lighthouse was the 

 waist or bole of a large spreading Oak, which, though 

 subject to a very great impulse from the agitation of 

 violent winds, resists them all, partly from its elasticity, 

 and partly from its natural strength. Considering the 

 particular figure of the tree, as -connected with its roots, 

 which lie hid below ground, Mr. Smeaton observed that 

 it rose from its surface with a large swelling base, which 

 at the height of its own diameter is generally reduced 

 by an elegant curve, concave to the eye, to a diameter 

 less by at least one-third, and sometimes to half its 

 original base. From thence its sides, tapering more gra- 

 dually, assume a perpendicular direction, and for some 

 height form a cylinder. After that a greater circumference 

 becomes necessary for the insertion and establishment of 

 the principal boughs, which produce a swelling of its 

 diameter. Hence may be deduced an idea of what the 

 proper shape of a column of the greatest stability ought to 

 be to resist the action of external violence, when the 



