■DESCKIPTIVE ENUMERATION OP TREES, 43 



The particular, and most valued, qualities of the 

 Oak are hardness and toughness. Shakespeare uses 

 two epithets to express these qualities, which are, 

 per-haps, stronger than any we can find. 



' Thou rather with thy sharp and sulph'rous bolt 

 Split'sfc the unwedgeahle, and gnarled Oak, 

 Than the soft Myrtle.' 



Many ]dnds of wood are harder, as Box and 

 Ebony ; many kinds are tougher, as Yew and Ash ; 

 but it is supposed that no species of wood, at 

 least no species of timber, is possessed of both 

 these qualities together in so gi'eat a degree as 

 British Oak. Almost all arts and manufactures 

 are indebted to it ; but, in ship-building and bear- 

 ing burdens, its elasticity and strength are applied 

 to most advantage. I mention these mechanic 

 uses only because some of its chief beauties are 

 connected with them. Thus it is not the erect, 

 stately tree that is always the most useful in ship- 

 building; but more often the crooked one, form- 

 ing short turns and elbows, which the shipwrights 

 and carpenters commonly call hnee-timber. This, 

 too, is generally the most picturesque. Nor is it 

 the straight, tall stem, whose fibres run in parallel 



D 



