138 A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. But, whilst we thus condemn the timber, we must not omit to praise the 

 "^^^''^^ mast, which fatten our swine and deer ; and hath, in some famiUes, even 

 supported men with bread. Chios endured a memorable siege by the 

 benefit of this mast. And, in some parts of France, they now grind 

 the buck in mills ; it affords a sweet oil^ which the poor people eat most 

 willingly. But there is yet another benefit which this tree presents 

 us ; its very leaves, which make a natural and most agreeable canopy 

 all the summer, being gathered about the fall, and somewhat before they 

 are much frost-bitten, afford the best and easiest mattresses in the world 

 to lay under our quilts instead of straw ; because, besides their tenderness 

 and loose lying together, they continue sweet for seven or eight years 

 long, before which time straw becomes musty and hard : They are thus 

 used by divers persons of quality in Dauphiny; and, in Switzerland, I have 

 sometimes lain on them to my great refreshment : So as, of this tree, it 

 may properly be said, 



— — Silva domus, cubilia frondes. juvenal. 

 The wood's an house, the leaves a bed. 



Being pruned, it heals the scar immediately, and is not apt to put forth 

 so soon again as other trees. 



The stagnate water in the hollow trees cures the most obstinate tetters, 

 scabs and scurfs in man or beast, fomenting the part with it. The leaves 

 chewed, are wholesome for the gums and teeth ; and the very buds 

 as they are in winter hardened and dried upon the twigs, make good 

 tooth-pickers. Swine may be driven to mast about the end of August, 

 but it is observed, that, when they feed on it before it be mature, 

 it intoxicates them for a while ; and that, generally, their fat is not 

 so good or solid, but drips away too soon. In the mean time the kernels 

 of the mast are greedily devoured by squirrels, mice, and, above all, by 

 dormice, who, harbouring in the hollow trees, grow so fat, that, in some 

 countries abroad, they take infinite numbers of them ; I suppose, to eat : 

 and what relief they give to thrushes, blackbirds, fieldfares, and other 

 birds, every body knows. 



