OAK TREE. 



295 



Chatterton repeatedly compares the death of a warrior, 

 in battle, to the fall of an oak : 



" In his dere hartes bloude his longe launce was wett^ 

 And from his courser down he tumbled dede. 

 So have I sene a mountayne oak that longe 

 Has caste his shadowe to the mountayne syde. 

 Brave all the vvyndes^, tho' ever they so stronge, 

 And view the briers below with self-taught pride ; 



But when throwne downe by mightie thunder-stroke, 



He'd rather bee a brier than an oke." 



Cowley compares the death of the gigantic Philistine 

 slain by David to a tree destroyed by thunder : 



*' Down, down, he falls, and bites in vain the ground ; 

 Blood, brain, and soul crowd mingled through the wound ! 

 So a strong oak which many years had stood 

 With fair and flourishing boughs, itself a wood — 

 Though it migtit long the axe's violence bear. 

 And played with winds that other trees would tear- 

 Yet by the thunder's stroke from the root is rent : 

 So sure the blows that from high heaven are sent." 



The Oak is not so much used for ship-building as it 

 was formerly ; it was, in a great measure, superseded by 

 the fir ; and latterly larch- wood has been much in use 

 for this purpose. It has also fallen comparatively into 

 disuse for the building of houses and churches ; in some 

 old buildings where it yet remains, it has a handsome 

 and venerable appearance. It is styled, both by Chaucer 

 and Spenser, " the builder Oak but the epithet now 

 may be as properly applied to many other trees. The 

 Oak, however, has furnished many superb vessels, and 

 the sailor will still maintain that his ship is " heart of 

 Oak.'' 



Pope thus addresses the Thames : 



