18 SYLVAN WINTEE. 



Such, special mention the Oak demands in our 

 dealing witt tlie general wintrj aspect of the 

 forest because it is a dominating figure. We 

 entirely agree with Gilpin that it is ' the most 

 picturesque tree in itself, and the most accommo- 

 dating in composition.' He rightly adds that 

 ' it refuses no subject either in natural or in 

 artificial landscape. It is suited to the grandest, 

 and may, with propriety, be introduced into the 

 most pastoral. It adds new dignity to the ruined 

 tower and Gothic arch; by stretching its wild, 

 moss-grown branches athwart their ivied walls it 

 gives them a kind of majesty coeval with itself. 

 At. the same time its propriety is still preserved 

 if it throw its arms over the purling brook or 

 the mantling pool, where it beholds 



' " Its reverend image in the expanse below." ' 



In the leafless woods tbe grandeur and 

 robustness of the Oak, so greatly exceeding that 

 of other trees, serves to establish contrasts which 

 are all the more striking because the ' King of the 

 Forest' forms a foil, or background, so to speak, 

 that establishes a basis of comparison Avith the 



