DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
121 
“ The oak,” says Gilpin, “ is confessedly the most pictu- 
resque tree in itself, and the most accommodating in compo- 
sition. It refuses no subject, either in natural or in artificial 
landscape. It is suited to the grandest and may with pro- 
priety be introduced into the most pastoral. It adds new 
dignity to the ruined tower, and the Gothic arch ; and by 
stretching its wild, moss-grown branches athwart their ivied 
walls, it gives them a kind of majesty coeval with itself; at 
the same time, its propriety is still preserved if it throws its 
arms over the purling brook or the mantling pool, where it 
beholds 
“ Its reverend image in the expanse below.” 
Milton introduces it happily even in the lowest scene — 
il Hard by a cottage chimney smokes, 
From between two aged oaks.” 
The oak is not only one of the grandest and most pictu- 
resque objects as a single tree upon a lawn, but it is equally 
unrivalled for groups and masses. There is a breadth about 
the lights and shadows reflected and embosomed in its foliage, 
a singular freedom and boldness in its outline, and a pleasing 
richness and intricacy in its huge ramification of branch and 
limb, that render it highly adapted to these purposes. Some 
trees, as the willow, or the spiry poplar, though pleasing 
singly, are monotonous to the last degree when planted in 
quantities. Not so, however, with the oak, as there is no 
tree, when forming a wood entirely by itself, which affords 
so great a variety of form and disposition, light and shade, 
symmetry and irregularity, as this king of the forests. 
To airive at its highest perfection, ample space on every 
side must be allowed the oak. A free exposure to the sun 
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