THE OAK. 49 



boast. The tree itself has a more particular claim 

 on our veneration, having been planted at the birth of 

 Sir Philip Sidney ; a name dear alike to valour and 

 the muses, consecrated by every virtue that could 

 adorn private life, and graced with talents that ren- 

 dered their possessor the admiration of Europe, even 

 in his bloom of youth. Every memorial of a birth 

 so auspicious, every remembrance of a career so 

 bright, though, alas ! 



" Brief as the lightning in the collied night," 



is of value to the poet. Hence, this tree has been 

 celebrated by many of our best writers. Ben 

 Jonson speaks of it as, 



" That taller tree which of a nut was set 

 At his great birth where all the Muses met." 



And Waller, the gallant and elegant Waller, who 

 never lost sight of an allusion which might add, in 

 the eyes of his mistress, to the vivacity of his attach- 

 ment, thus immortalizes his numbers, by connecting 

 them with a name which, whilst England exists as 

 a nation, will always be proudly mentioned in her 

 annals. 



" Go, boy, and carve this passion on the bark 

 Of yonder tree, which stands the sacred mark 

 Of noble SIDNEY'S birth; when such benign, 

 Such more than mortal-making stars did shine, 

 That there they cannot but for ever prove 

 The monument and pledge of humble love : 

 His humble love whose hope shall ne'er rise higher 

 Than for a pardon that he dares admire." 



D 



