2 



SYLVA BRITANNTCA. 



Romans, it was dedicated to Jupiter ; among the 

 ancient Britons, its consecrated shade was devoted 

 to the most solemn ceremonies of the Druids ; and 

 scarcely is it held in less veneration by their de- 

 scendants, who find all the interest of which it may 

 be despoiled by the passing away of the supersti- 

 tions connected with it in former ages, revived in 

 those present to them, by the ideas of British 

 power, and British independence, inseparably asso- 

 ciated with the image of the British Oak in the 

 minds of Englishmen ; who see in every acorn that 

 drops from its branching arms. 



Those sapling Oaks which at Britannia's call 

 May heave their trunks mature into the main, 

 And float the bulwarks of her liberty. 



Mason. 



In proportion as the Oak is valued above all other 

 trees, so is the English Oak esteemed above that 

 of any other country, for its particular character- 

 istics of hardness and toughness ; qualities which 

 so peculiarly fit it to be the " father of ships," and 

 which are thus admirably expressed in two epithets 

 by that great poet, to whom the book of Nature, 

 and of the human heart, seemed alike laid open. 



Thou rather with thy sharp and sulph'rous bolt, 

 Splitt'st the tmwedgeable and gnarled Oak, 

 Than the soft myrtle. 



Shakspeare. 



