4 
connected with the different sylvan worthies of this 
tribe, which have done honour to our woods. 
There may be something fanciful in Shenstone’s 
comparison between this noble tree and our national 
character; but as it is complimentary, and, on the 
whole, tolerably correct, it shall have a place here. 
“ Oaks,” says he, « are in all respects the image of the 
manly character: in former times, I should have said, 
and in present times I think I am authorised to say, 
the British one. As a brave man is not suddenly 
either elated by prosperin', or depressed by adversity, 
so the oak displays not its verdure on the sun’s first 
approach, nor drops it on his first departure: add to 
this its majestic appearance, the rough grandeur of its 
bark, and the wide protection of its branches. A 
large, spreading, aged oak is, perhaps, the most vener¬ 
able of all inanimate objects.” 
Independently of its more valuable qualities, the true 
“ unwedgable and gnarled oak” of Shakspeare is the 
most picturesque of all the trees which adorn real 
0 lish scenerj. “ It refuses no subject either in 
natural or artificial landscape. It is suited to the 
grandest, and may be introduced into the most pas¬ 
toral and even rustic, scene: — 
