THE BEECH. 77 



" And as they bow their hoary tops relate, 



In murm'ring sounds, the dark decrees of Fate ; 



While visions, as poetic eyes avow, 



Cling to each leaf, and swarm on every bough." 



"At the foot of one of these squats me I, (// Penseroso) 

 and there grow to the trunk for a whole morning. 

 The timorous hare and sportive squirrel gambol 

 around me like Adam in Paradise, before he had an 

 Eve ; but I think he did not use to read Virgil, as I 

 commonly do there." It is easy to recognise in this 

 description the same feelings and observations after- 

 wards depicted in the portrait of " A youth to fortune 

 and to fame unknown," of whom the writer says in 

 his celebrated Elegy, 



" There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, 



That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, 



His listless length at noon-tide would he stretch, 



And pore upon the brook that bubbles by." 



Here indeed the beech, so celebrated by poets, 

 reigns in undivided sovereignty, scarcely admitting 

 an oak to share its domain, so that we may easily 

 imagine how it must have overrun the country before 

 the opposing influence of agriculture was known ; 

 indeed we are told by old historians, the county 

 was rendered impassable by the thickness of its 

 woods, and the shelter they afforded for marauders 

 and thieves, until several of them were cut down by 

 Leofstan, Abbot of St. Alban's. DELICI/E SYL- 

 VAHUM, page 7. 



