OAK TREE. 



283 



truly I should think it would become a green ribbon, next 

 to that of St. George, superior to any of the romantic 

 badges to v/hich such veneration is paid abroad ; de- 

 servedly to be worn by such as have signalized them- 

 selves by their conduct and courage in the defence and 

 preservation of their country." 



At Worthorpe, in Lincolnshire, is an Oak, in the hol- 

 low trunk of which six calves are fattened every season. 



" A tree is still shown in Windsor Forest, as Heme's 

 Oak,'" says Martyn, but from its size and vigour he 

 doubts whether it could have been a proper tree for 

 Heme the hunter to have danced round more than two 

 centuries ago. Whether the tree be actually standing 

 or not, its memory will live, while there lives a man to 

 cherish it. 



" The fairies from their nightly haunt 



In copse^ or dell^ or round the trunk revered 

 Of Heme's moon-silvered oak, shall chase away 

 Each fog, each blight, and dedicate to peace 

 Thy classic shade." 



W. TiGHE. 



Many places in England take their names from the 

 Oak tree, as Berkshire from a bare Oak — 



^' An aged oak, of leaves and branches bare," 



at which the people of that county used to assemble : 

 Oakingham, Oakhampton, Oakington, Aukland, Baldock, 

 Hatfield Broad-oak, Acca in Somersetshire, Greenock 

 in Scotland, Seven Oaks, &c. 



Virgil has, as Mr. Gilpin observes, in a few words 

 brought together the most obvious qualities of this noble 

 tree ; its firmness, the stoutness of its limbs, the twisting 

 of its branches, their wide-spreading, and its longevity. 



