110 FAMILIAR TREES 
growing beneath it. The well-arained soil in which 
it delights is by it drained yet more thoroughly ; 
so that it has a marked power of holding the 
ground against other species, as noticed by both 
Evelyn and Gilpin. This has earned for it the 
evil reputation of symbolising selfish ambition, the 
ambition of a forest prince in his rivalry of the 
monarch Oak. Though its leaves enrich the soil, 
this characteristic renders it perhaps better suited 
to the grove, the wilderness, or a corner of the 
park than to the garden lawn, Hollies and other 
evergreens, bracken and brainbles will grow beneath 
its shade, and it must not be forgotten that it is 
a tree which, for the development of its highest 
beauty, should occupy an isolated position. 
The modern scientific forester looks upon the 
Beech as “the mother of the forest,” attaching the 
very highest value to it as undergrowth protecting 
the soil from drought and denudation, and enrich- 
ing it with its fallen leaves. 
In spring and summer beneath the Beech-tree’s 
shade wander those abusers of “our young trees,” 
who, from the time of Paris and (Enone to that 
of Orlando and Rosalind and onwards, have been 
tempted by its smooth bark to make it the medium 
of perpetuating their love. Well might Campbell 
put into the mouth of a Evech-tree the complaint 
that 
“Youthful lovers in my shade 
Their vows of truth and rapture made, 
And on my trunk’s surviving frame 
Carved many a long-forgotten name.” 
