 | The British Months |  |
The progress of the seed-vessel open to observation. The unfolding of the seed obscure. An opportunity for observation. Mode of rearing Oak plants in Hyacinth glasses. Apparatus. Suspension of the Acorn. Bursting of the bud. The Root. The Tree. Passage for the stem. Tree fit for planting. Its possible future state. Oak described by Spenser. Sir Philip Sidney's Oak at Penshurst. Yardley Oak
They're open to the general view:
And he, who wills it, may pursue
Observant from the natal hour,
Which wakes to life the budded flow'r,
To that, when drooping in decay
Each faded flow'r is past away,
And bloomless leaves the plant and bare;—
Yes, he who will may follow there
Progressively the steps that lead
To perfectness the increasing seed:
Till, bursting from its parent case,
And scatter'd by the feather'd race,
By insect, reptile, beast, or man,
Co-labourers in nature's plan,
Or wafted by the passing wind,
At once a refuge meet it find,
A tomb within the shrouding earth,
And cradle for the future birth.
And he, who wills it, may pursue
Observant from the natal hour,
Which wakes to life the budded flow'r,
To that, when drooping in decay
Each faded flow'r is past away,
And bloomless leaves the plant and bare;—
Yes, he who will may follow there
Progressively the steps that lead
To perfectness the increasing seed:
Till, bursting from its parent case,
And scatter'd by the feather'd race,
By insect, reptile, beast, or man,
Co-labourers in nature's plan,
303
At once a refuge meet it find,
A tomb within the shrouding earth,
And cradle for the future birth.
Less obvious to the inquiring sight,
Hid in the earth and gloomy night,
His trust the seed begins unfold;
Till issuing from that secret hold,
The plant his gradual form displays,
And courts unveil'd the publick gaze.
Hid in the earth and gloomy night,
His trust the seed begins unfold;
Till issuing from that secret hold,
The plant his gradual form displays,
And courts unveil'd the publick gaze.
But would you wish commenc'd to see
The process of that mystery,
Pause for a moment, nor refuse
Your kindly hearing, while the Muse
Would fain a pleasing sight rehearse,
Yet unessay'd in measur'd verse;
Nor yet essay'd, if right she knows,
Save by herself in humbler prose.
The process of that mystery,
Pause for a moment, nor refuse
Your kindly hearing, while the Muse
Would fain a pleasing sight rehearse,
Yet unessay'd in measur'd verse;
Nor yet essay'd, if right she knows,
Save by herself in humbler prose.
Half from the living spring be fill'd
A crystal vase, like those that yield,
To deck the polish'd female's room,
The hyacinth's precocious bloom.
The vessel's narrowing neck to guard,
Be fitted there a rounded card;
And thence, on slender packthread slung,
Or shred of brazen wire, be hung
The Oaktree's shell'd and kernel'd Corn,
Which, at the end inferior borne
Of that dependent line, around
The acorn's swelling body wound,
May dangle mid the crystal vase,
Above the water's limpid face:
Prompt to amuse the watchful eye,
And with strange sight diversify
The dulness of the wintry gloom;
And station'd, where the attemper'd room,
The accustom'd dwelling place, may hold
Its trust secure from nipping cold.
A crystal vase, like those that yield,
To deck the polish'd female's room,
The hyacinth's precocious bloom.
The vessel's narrowing neck to guard,
Be fitted there a rounded card;
And thence, on slender packthread slung,
Or shred of brazen wire, be hung
The Oaktree's shell'd and kernel'd Corn,
Which, at the end inferior borne
Of that dependent line, around
The acorn's swelling body wound,
304
Above the water's limpid face:
Prompt to amuse the watchful eye,
And with strange sight diversify
The dulness of the wintry gloom;
And station'd, where the attemper'd room,
The accustom'd dwelling place, may hold
Its trust secure from nipping cold.
Then, as the trickling vapour glides
About the vessel's moisten'd sides,
Soon from the tapering acorn's end
You'll mark the liquid drop depend.
Nor long, a few brief days between,
Cleaving its hard and shelly skreen
Will first peep out the expansive bud;
And through the narrow cleft protrude
All colourless the slender root,
Which downward, with elongate shoot,
Shall through the genial liquid pass;
And snakelike, mid the girdling glass
To right, to left, its fibres throw
Excursive o'er the pool below.
About the vessel's moisten'd sides,
Soon from the tapering acorn's end
You'll mark the liquid drop depend.
Nor long, a few brief days between,
Cleaving its hard and shelly skreen
Will first peep out the expansive bud;
And through the narrow cleft protrude
All colourless the slender root,
Which downward, with elongate shoot,
Shall through the genial liquid pass;
And snakelike, mid the girdling glass
To right, to left, its fibres throw
Excursive o'er the pool below.
Anon with rival vigour, see
Ascend the rudimental tree,
Unfolded from the twin-born gem!
The twofold leaf at first; the stem
Diminutive, which upward tends,
And from each side progressive sends
Fresh leaves in pairs alternate spread:
Till, taller grown, the aspiring head
Its narrow house indignant spurns;
And for your friendly succour yearns,
To cut its penthouse roof away,
And bare it to the open day.
Ascend the rudimental tree,
Unfolded from the twin-born gem!
The twofold leaf at first; the stem
Diminutive, which upward tends,
And from each side progressive sends
Fresh leaves in pairs alternate spread:
Till, taller grown, the aspiring head
Its narrow house indignant spurns;
And for your friendly succour yearns,
305
And bare it to the open day.
Now pierce the obstructing cope, and grant
Free passage for the aspiring plant,
Forth from his shallow hold to soar.
See by degrees, a foot and more
Releas'd the leafy top ascends;
And still, as on the shoot extends,
And onward, from the shelly sheath
Responds the fibrous root beneath;
Prepar'd when wintry frosts their hold
Have loosen'd on the harden'd mould,
To take his post abroad; to clasp
The soil with firm tenacious grasp;
The tempest's furious force defy,
Lift his aspiring summit high,
Around his spreading branches throw,
And, shaken more, the firmer grow.
Free passage for the aspiring plant,
Forth from his shallow hold to soar.
See by degrees, a foot and more
Releas'd the leafy top ascends;
And still, as on the shoot extends,
And onward, from the shelly sheath
Responds the fibrous root beneath;
Prepar'd when wintry frosts their hold
Have loosen'd on the harden'd mould,
To take his post abroad; to clasp
The soil with firm tenacious grasp;
The tempest's furious force defy,
Lift his aspiring summit high,
Around his spreading branches throw,
And, shaken more, the firmer grow.
And who can say, but that small tree,
Which now in earliest infancy,
Weak as yon thread, its first-born sprig
Puts forth, a slender seedling twig,
May hold its course from stage to stage;
May yet in some far distant age
To lonely musing poet yield
Its shadow brown, impervious shield
Against the sun's meridian stroke,
Like Milton's “monumental oak !”
Or like that monarch of the green,
The goodliest of the woodland scene,
“With body big, and strongly pight,
Deep rooted, and of wondrous height,
With arms full strong and large display'd,
But of his foliage disarray'd ,”
Which still survives the tooth of time,
And lives in that sweet poet's rhime;
Who, while to please the courtly throng
He “moralis'd” his faery “song”
With “faithful love and furious war,”
No less the rural calendar
Deign'd in the humble shepherd's weed
To picture with his pastoral reed,
Sweet Spenser!—Or like that which shades
Delightful Penshurst's classick glades,
There fix'd to mark the natal hour
Of Spenser's friend, in hall or bow'r
Unrivall'd, valiant, learned, free,
Courteous, and good: whose honour'd tree
In learned Jonson's verse remains,
And softer Waller's graceful strains,
Most honour'd for its birthright claim
To bear the gallant Sidney's name!—
Or like that relick of the wood,
In Yardley's sylvan solitude,
Which seem'd to lend a listening ear,
While Cowper's plaintive Muse severe
In “melancholy Jaques' ” vein
Pour'd forth her moralising strain:
And backward traced the aged tree,
Through time's eventful history,
From his last stage of drear decay,
The evening of his closing day,
Up to his full meridian time,
His lusty morn, his joyous prime,
His feeble childhood; when at first
The twofold lobes the seedling burst,
Ev'n as the slender form, which late
Surpassing scarce a feather's weight,
Was from its mighty parent shed,
And dangles on yon fragile thread!
Which now in earliest infancy,
Weak as yon thread, its first-born sprig
Puts forth, a slender seedling twig,
May hold its course from stage to stage;
May yet in some far distant age
To lonely musing poet yield
Its shadow brown, impervious shield
Against the sun's meridian stroke,
Like Milton's “monumental oak !”
Or like that monarch of the green,
The goodliest of the woodland scene,
306
Deep rooted, and of wondrous height,
With arms full strong and large display'd,
But of his foliage disarray'd ,”
Which still survives the tooth of time,
And lives in that sweet poet's rhime;
Who, while to please the courtly throng
He “moralis'd” his faery “song”
With “faithful love and furious war,”
No less the rural calendar
Deign'd in the humble shepherd's weed
To picture with his pastoral reed,
Sweet Spenser!—Or like that which shades
Delightful Penshurst's classick glades,
There fix'd to mark the natal hour
Of Spenser's friend, in hall or bow'r
Unrivall'd, valiant, learned, free,
Courteous, and good: whose honour'd tree
In learned Jonson's verse remains,
And softer Waller's graceful strains,
Most honour'd for its birthright claim
To bear the gallant Sidney's name!—
Or like that relick of the wood,
In Yardley's sylvan solitude,
Which seem'd to lend a listening ear,
While Cowper's plaintive Muse severe
In “melancholy Jaques' ” vein
Pour'd forth her moralising strain:
And backward traced the aged tree,
Through time's eventful history,
307
The evening of his closing day,
Up to his full meridian time,
His lusty morn, his joyous prime,
His feeble childhood; when at first
The twofold lobes the seedling burst,
Ev'n as the slender form, which late
Surpassing scarce a feather's weight,
Was from its mighty parent shed,
And dangles on yon fragile thread!
Yes, Yardley's Oak was once like thee,
Thou slender, weak, incipient Tree!
And frail as is thy substance, thou
May'st be like Yardley's relick now,
When o'er thy scath'd and cloven head
Their frosts a thousand years have shed;
As mighty in thy strength of day,
As graced and reverend in decay!
Thou slender, weak, incipient Tree!
And frail as is thy substance, thou
May'st be like Yardley's relick now,
When o'er thy scath'd and cloven head
Their frosts a thousand years have shed;
As mighty in thy strength of day,
As graced and reverend in decay!
| The British Months | |