THE OAK. 



53 



Oak. Almost all arts and manufactures are in- 

 debted to it ; but in ship-building, and bearing 

 burdens, its elasticity and strength are applied to 

 most advantage. I mention these mechanical 

 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, 

 forming short turns and elbows, which the ship- 

 wrights and carpenters commonly call knee- 

 timber. This, too, is generally the most pic- 

 turesque. Nor is it the straight, tall stem, whose 

 fibres run in parallel lines, that is the most useful 

 in bearing burdens ; but that whose sinevv's are 

 twisted, and spirally combined. This, too, is the 

 most picturesque. Trees, under these circum- 

 stances generally take the most pleasing forms."* 

 The admirable qualities of Oak as a material 

 for building, and other purposes, were known to 

 our ancestors in ages long past, scarcely any other 

 timber being found in any buildings of very high 

 antiquity. The doors of the inner chapels of 

 Westminster Abbey are said to be coeval ^^ith the 

 original building : if this be true, they must be 

 more than twelve hundred years old. The shrine 

 of Edward the Confessor, in the same abbey, is 

 also of Oak, and must be nearly eight hundred 

 years old. In the county-hall at Winchester is 

 preserved Arthur's round table, so well known in 

 stories of English chivalry. It bears the figure 

 of that Prince, and the names of several of his 

 knights. Henry the Eighth is said to have taken 

 great pleasure in shewing this table to his illustri- 

 ous visitor, Charles the Fifth, as the actual oaken 



* Gilpin's Forest Scenery. 



