THE OAK. 



61 



many times worth the pains and charge for sundry 

 rare and hard works ; and where timber is dear^ 

 I could name some who^ abandoning this to work- 

 men for their pains only, when they perceived the 

 great advantage, repented of their bargain, and 

 undertaking it themselves, were gainers above 

 half. They made cups of the roots of Oaks here- 

 tofore ; and such a curiosity, Athen^us tells us, 

 was carved by Thericleus himself ; and there is a 

 way so to tinge Oak, after long burying and soak- 

 ing in water, w^hich gives it a wonderful politure, 

 as that it has frequently been taken for a coarse 

 ebony." * 



The timber-merchant and the painter, if called 

 to give an opinion on any particular Oak, vrould, 

 in all probability, greatly differ. To the form^er 

 a clean, straight, and regular stem Avould suggest 

 calculations as to the number of cubic feet of 

 timber it would be found to contain when the 

 axe, and square, and saw should have done their 

 w^ork. A well-grown tree, therefore, in the vi- 

 gour of its age, will be to him^ the perfection of 

 all trees. The painter Vvdll perhaps, stop and ad- 

 mire the stately growth of the same tree ; he ^\dll 

 notice the symmetry of its form, and watch the 

 brilliant lights playing about its thick foliage ; 

 but he v/ill feel no desire to transfer it to his can- 

 vass. There must be no perpendicular or parallel 

 lines about the object of his choice ; no semi- 

 circular evenly shaped head ; no arms of equal 

 diameter springing from the main stem at the 

 same angle, and extending to an equal distance all 

 round. But shew him a veteran patriarch, whose 



* The Black Oak," fuiind in great quantities in many of the bogs 

 in Ireland, might readily he mistaken for ebony. 



