THE SYCAMORE. 



4!-} 



so far as I can learn, looks on this tree in any other light 

 than as a foreigner, but as a foreigner naturalized so com- 

 pletely that it will continue to sow its own seeds, and nurse 

 its own offspring, as long as England exists. The Oak, 

 indeed, has greater right to claim an indigenous origin 

 than we ourselves. There can he little doubt that the 

 Oaks which now stock our forests, or convey our sailors 

 to every region of the world, are lineal descendants of the 

 first trees which ever grew in our island. 



The Oak, on account of the age and size which it attains, 

 the share which it had in the religious worship of our 

 forefathers, its picturesque beauty, and its intimate con- 

 nexion with naval architecture, is confessedly the most in- 

 teresting of all the trees which grow in Britain. But the 

 Sycamore is sadly deficient in these respects. It has 

 neither extraordinary magnitude nor longevity to recom- 

 mend it. It was not contemporary in this country with 

 the worshippers of trees ; and I know not that it ever laid 



