218 



LETTERS ON TREES. 



7. Do you ask what the general plan or idea is ? 

 The answer is, that short-hved, small, and slender 

 annuals are the basis of the whole yegetable creation, 

 the principle on which the whole is contrived, the 

 true types and proper representatives of all plants. — 

 " Trees come of us, not we of trees." So, as we tread 

 it under foot, gazing at some majestic and venerable 

 Oak — so might the little Daisy say, addressing us in 

 the name and on the behalf of its fellow annuals. 



Giant as that proud Oak is, reaching back though 

 he may to ages earlier than the Conquest, he yet con- 

 tains no element that is not to be found in us. The 

 Grass of the field which in the morning groweth up 

 and in the evening — its growth completed — is cut 

 down and withereth, cometh of an older line than 

 his."* 



8. And do you ask next what the special end is, to 

 meet which the general plan has been modified in the 

 case of trees ? It is mainly the production of Timber, 

 And what the modification itself? Let us again 



* " Kings come of us, not we of kings. — Nos no descendemos de 

 ios Reyes, sino los Reyes descendien de nos,". — is said to be the 

 device of the Manriquez family. — " I think. Sir Edward, that you 

 are of the family of the Duke of Somerset." " Pardon me. Sir, the 

 Duke of Somerset is of my family." Reply of Sir Edwand Sey- 

 mour, the head of the elder branch of the Seymoui's, to William, 

 Prince of Orange, who, at his first interview with Sir Edward, 

 meaning to be very civil to him, had addressed him as above. — See 

 Macaulay's History of England, vol. ii. 



