OAK TREE. 



§87 



As when the winds their airy quarrel try. 



Jostling from every quarter of the sky, 



This way and that the mountain oak they bend. 



His boughs they shatter, and his branches rend ; 



With leaves and falling mast they spread the ground, 



The hollow valleys echo to the sound : 



Unmoved the royal plant their fury mocks, 



Or shaken, clings more closely to the rocks ; 



Far as he shoots his towering head on high. 



So deep in earth his fixed foundations lie." 



Dr YD en's Virgil. 



" The Oak,'"* observes Mr. Gilpin, " is confessedly 

 the most picturesque tree in itself, and the most accom- 

 modating in composition. It refuses no subject, either in 

 natural, or in artificial landscape. It is suited to the 

 grandest, and may with propriety be introduced into the 

 most pastoral. It adds new dignity to the ruined tower, 

 and Gothic arch ; it throws its arms with propriety over 

 the mantling pool, and may be happily introduced even 

 in the lowest scene.^' 



" Imperial oak, a cottage in thy shade 

 Finds safety, or a monarch in thy arms : 

 Respectful generations see thee spread. 

 Careless of centuries, even in decay 

 Majestic : thy far-shadowing boughs contend 

 With time ; the obsequious winds shall visit thee. 

 To scatter round the children of thy age. 

 And eternize thy latest benefits." 



W. TiGHE. 



" It is remarkable,'' says Dr. Hunter, " that the Oak 

 was held sacred by the Greeks, the Romans, the Gauls, 

 and the Britons." 



It is frequently mentioned by the Roman poets as the 

 tree of Jove, to whom it w^as dedicated. Near to Chaonia 



