106 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. in thirty years, borne a stem of a foot diameter. Generally, copse-wood 

 should be cut close, and at such intervals as the growth requires, which, 

 being seldom constant, depends much on the places and the kinds, the 

 mould and the air ; and for which there are extant particular statutes 

 to direct us ; of all which more at large hereafter. Oak for tan-bark may 

 be felled from April to the last of June, by a statute in 1st Jacobi ; and 

 there are some for the disbarking of Oaks, and so to let them stand 

 before they fell. 



Uses. 17- To enumerate now the incomparable uses of Oak were needless ; 

 but so precious was the esteem of it, that of old there was an express 

 law amongst the twelve tables concerning the very gathering of the 

 acorns, though they should be found fallen in another man's ground. 

 The land and the sea do sufficiently speak for the improvement of this 

 excellent material ; houses and ships, cities and navies are built with 

 it, and there is a kind of it so tough, and extremely compact, that our 

 sharpest tools will hardly enter it, and scarcely the very fire itself, 

 in which it consumes but slowly, as seeming to partake of a ferruginous 

 and metalline shining nature, proper for sundry robust uses. It is doubt- 

 less, of all timber hitherto known, the most universally useful and strong; 

 for though some trees be harder, as Box, Cornus, Ebony, and divers 

 of the Indian woods, yet we find them more fragil, and not so well 

 qualified to support great incumbencies and weights ; nor is there any 

 timber more lasting, which way so ever used. There has, we know, 

 been no little stir amongst learned men, of what material the cross was 

 made on which our blessed Saviour suffered : A^enerable Bede, in 

 Collectaneis, affirms it to have been framed of several woods, namely. 

 Cypress, Cedar, Pine, and Box ; And to confirm it, St. Hierom has cited 

 Isaiah Ix. 13. Gloria Libani ad te veniet, et Buxus et Pimcs simul ad 

 ornandum locum sanctiftcatmiis mece.et locum pedum meorumglorificabo; 

 but, following the version of the LXX, he reads, Cupressus, Pinus, et 

 Cedrus, &f. Others insert the Palm, and so compose the cross of no less 

 than four different timbers, according to the old verse : 



Quatuor ex lignis Domini citjx dicitur esse. 

 Pes crucis est Cedrus, corpus tenet alta Cupressus ; 

 ^ Palma manus retinet, titulo laetatur Oliva. 



I Nail'd were his feet to Cedar, to Palm his hands. 



Cypress his body bore, title on Olive stands. 



