OLASS XXI, ORDER VII] QUERCUS. 1207 
the vintage is come down.” And we are told in Isaiah Ixiy. that 
cedars, cypress, and Oak, where hewn down, and made into graven 
images: “And none considered in his heart, neither is their know- 
ledge and understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire ; 
yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted 
flesh, and eaten it, and shall I make the residue thereof an abomina- 
tion? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feedeth on 
ashes ; a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver 
his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand ?” 
These and many other passages of Scripture are sufficient to show 
how intimately the history of the Oak is connected with that of the 
Hebrews. 
The origin of the Greeks is a subject which is involved in much 
obscurity and fable, as well as that of their oracles. The oracle of 
Jupiter in the temple of Dodona, near which was a sacred grove of 
Oaks or Beeches, which the dryades, fauni and satyri, were thought to 
inhabit, and were frequently seen dancing under the shade of trees. 
These trees were endued with a human voice and prophetical spirit, 
on account of which they were called speaking and prophesying Oaks. 
Jt is the opinion of others that the oracles were pronounced from the 
hollow stocks of these trees, because the prophetess or priests could 
best be concealed there. And it is said that Argo, the ship of the 
Argonauts, being built with the trees of this wood, was endued with 
the same power of speaking. Pliny says, the Oaks in the woods of 
Hercynia, a part of which is now known by the name of the Black 
Forest in Germany, were believed to be coeval with the world. So 
extensive was this wood, that Cesar states that its breadth was a nine 
days’ journey, and its length exceeded sixty. Moses, as we read in 
Exodus xl. &c., was commanded by the Lord thus: “ And thou shalt 
take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is 
therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof, and it shal] 
be holy: and thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt-offering, and all 
his vessels, and sanctify the altar; and it shall be an altar most 
holy,” &¢. Jacob, it will also be remembered, “took the stone that 
he had put up for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured 
oil upon the top of it,’ Gen xxviii. 18. In like manner the Greeks 
consecrated the altars to their gods, as well as statues and trees. The 
solitude and cool shade of groves appears from the earliest records to 
have been used as sacred places of worship, not only in Europe, but 
in all parts of the Eastern countries, and lest the Jews should in this 
manner imitate the Pagans, this precept is given to them: “ Thou 
shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the 
Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee; neither shalt thou set 
up any image which the Lord thy God hateth,-’ Deut. xvi. 21. 
The pleasantness, the solitude, the seeming secrecy, the deep shade, 
and silence of groves, fosters a feeling of adoration. 
