 | The British Months |  |
Nobleness of the Oak. Examples of Oaks in full vigour: Great Oak of Panshanger; The Chandos Oak. In incipient decay, Lord Bagot's Park, near Litchfield; Fredville, Kent. In decline, Salcey Forest Oak; Moccas Park Oak; Shelton Oak; Bull Oak in Wedgenock Park; Greendale Oak; King Oak, Savernake Forest; Queen Elizabeth's Oak, Huntingfield; Gospel Oak, Stoneleigh; Cowthorpe Oak, Wetherby. The growth of the Oak, striking proof of divine power. Inference concerning the growth of the gospel
Look nature's green creation through,
What nobler object glads the view,
Than scatheless by the woodman's stroke,
“The unwedgeable and gnarled Oak ,”
Which, August, decks thy scenes, array'd
In all the majesty of shade?
What nobler object glads the view,
Than scatheless by the woodman's stroke,
“The unwedgeable and gnarled Oak ,”
Which, August, decks thy scenes, array'd
In all the majesty of shade?
Whether in youth, or manhood's prime,
He lift his stately head sublime,
And spread his branching arms abroad,
Low bending with their leafy load:
So tall, so broad, the mighty tree,
Which mid Panshanger's scenery,
The lordly Cowper's proud domain,
Waves o'er the green and grassy plain,
Exulting in his shapely height,
His arch'd and feathery foliage light:
So, broader and with denser shade,
Star-proof, pavilioning the glade,
That star nor sun with chequering ray
Can penetrate that dense array,
Known by thy honour's second claim,
Thy oak, most noble Buckingham,
Thy Chandos oak, the grace and crown
Unmatch'd of pleasant Michendon;
Which with wide arms, and branches bent,
And curtain'd, like some giant tent,
About its area's peerless bound,
Sweeps with deep fringe the girdled ground:—
He lift his stately head sublime,
And spread his branching arms abroad,
Low bending with their leafy load:
So tall, so broad, the mighty tree,
Which mid Panshanger's scenery,
308
Waves o'er the green and grassy plain,
Exulting in his shapely height,
His arch'd and feathery foliage light:
So, broader and with denser shade,
Star-proof, pavilioning the glade,
That star nor sun with chequering ray
Can penetrate that dense array,
Known by thy honour's second claim,
Thy oak, most noble Buckingham,
Thy Chandos oak, the grace and crown
Unmatch'd of pleasant Michendon;
Which with wide arms, and branches bent,
And curtain'd, like some giant tent,
About its area's peerless bound,
Sweeps with deep fringe the girdled ground:—
Or, if increasing years begin
O'er the reluctant frame to win
A slight success, and in its course
Check the fresh sap's ascending force:
So, 'mid his sons of fresher growth,
Fresh in the lustihood of youth,
And plants of thy ingenuous care,
Much honour'd Bagot, here and there,
Though proudly still he lift his brow,
Some earlier sire appears to show,
Dismantled of his leafy spray,
The symptoms of a first decay:
So stand in Fredville's sylvan chase,
Each with his own peculiar grace,
All with a common worth indued,
The threefold brethren of the wood,
Where “Stateliness” and “Beauty” vie
To share the prize with “Majesty;”
The goddesses of arms and love
Match'd with the fabled queen of Jove:—
O'er the reluctant frame to win
A slight success, and in its course
Check the fresh sap's ascending force:
So, 'mid his sons of fresher growth,
Fresh in the lustihood of youth,
And plants of thy ingenuous care,
Much honour'd Bagot, here and there,
Though proudly still he lift his brow,
Some earlier sire appears to show,
Dismantled of his leafy spray,
The symptoms of a first decay:
So stand in Fredville's sylvan chase,
Each with his own peculiar grace,
All with a common worth indued,
The threefold brethren of the wood,
309
To share the prize with “Majesty;”
The goddesses of arms and love
Match'd with the fabled queen of Jove:—
Or if, in manhood's late decline,
“When now the gray moss mars his rine,
When his bare boughs are beat by storms,
His summit bald and plough'd by worms,
His grace decay'd, his branches sere ;”
Still marks of dignity appear,
Like silvery locks, which time hath shed
On some age-honour'd Patriarch's head.
“When now the gray moss mars his rine,
When his bare boughs are beat by storms,
His summit bald and plough'd by worms,
His grace decay'd, his branches sere ;”
Still marks of dignity appear,
Like silvery locks, which time hath shed
On some age-honour'd Patriarch's head.
Such 'mid the flush of berried thorns,
That Salcey's verdant woods adorns,
The antique trunk's still sprouting shell,
Whose wide and excavated cell,
Wreath'd with fantastick branches bare,
Yields the tall deer a welcome lair:—
That Salcey's verdant woods adorns,
The antique trunk's still sprouting shell,
Whose wide and excavated cell,
Wreath'd with fantastick branches bare,
Yields the tall deer a welcome lair:—
Such Herefordian Moccas', nigh
The windings of the pastoral Wye,
Within whose cave for refuge creep
In days of peace the pastur'd sheep,
Where, round its then uninjur'd root,
Hand strove with hand, and foot with foot,
And nature heard with deep-drawn sighs
The rival roses' warrior cries:—
The windings of the pastoral Wye,
Within whose cave for refuge creep
In days of peace the pastur'd sheep,
Where, round its then uninjur'd root,
Hand strove with hand, and foot with foot,
And nature heard with deep-drawn sighs
The rival roses' warrior cries:—
Such Shelton's, once the look-out tower,
So fame reports, of wild Glendower,
Impatient for the Hotspur's host;
What time on Severn's sedgy coast
By Shrewsbury's temples floated wide
The royal Henry's banner'd pride;
And thence still seen, by Severn's stream,
Thy tow'rs and spires, fair Shrewsbury, gleam,
As fresh from deep Langollen's vale
The eyes broad England's meadows hail:—
So fame reports, of wild Glendower,
Impatient for the Hotspur's host;
What time on Severn's sedgy coast
310
The royal Henry's banner'd pride;
And thence still seen, by Severn's stream,
Thy tow'rs and spires, fair Shrewsbury, gleam,
As fresh from deep Langollen's vale
The eyes broad England's meadows hail:—
Such Wedgenock's, whose time-hollow'd bole
Has twenty swains, as with a stole,
Inclos'd; and in that cavern'd round
The ox a spacious stall has found:—
Has twenty swains, as with a stole,
Inclos'd; and in that cavern'd round
The ox a spacious stall has found:—
Such Greendale's tall and trunk-form'd arch,
Through which a banner'd host might march,
And in its shade, itself a wood,
Two hundred shelter'd kine have stood:-
Through which a banner'd host might march,
And in its shade, itself a wood,
Two hundred shelter'd kine have stood:-
Such Savernake's majestick tree,
Bearing the style of royalty;
And Huntingfield's, which mindful fame
Stamps with Eliza's regal name,
And tells of Hunsdon's princely courts,
Tree-pillar'd hall, and woodland sports,
And walks, and bow'rs, and buck laid low
By arrow from the queenly bow:—
Bearing the style of royalty;
And Huntingfield's, which mindful fame
Stamps with Eliza's regal name,
And tells of Hunsdon's princely courts,
Tree-pillar'd hall, and woodland sports,
And walks, and bow'rs, and buck laid low
By arrow from the queenly bow:—
Such in lone Stoneleigh's coppic'd lea,
The “holy oak, the Gospel tree;”
Where duly, as the village throng
Paced their parochial bounds along,
The Priest in words of peace and love
Told of the God who reigns above,
With blessings for the earth's increase;
And still the relick breathes of peace:—
The “holy oak, the Gospel tree;”
Where duly, as the village throng
Paced their parochial bounds along,
The Priest in words of peace and love
Told of the God who reigns above,
With blessings for the earth's increase;
And still the relick breathes of peace:—
Such first in size, if last in place,
The giant of that giant race;
Though scant in summer leaves array'd;
But casting with its trunk a shade,
Twice twenty men it claims to hold
Within that trunk's capacious fold;
Cowthorpe, thy venerable boast!
Nor England from her forest host
Of worthies can produce a son,
To match this woodland chief; nor one,
Who dares to loftier praise aspire,
Than children round a patriarch sire !
The giant of that giant race;
311
But casting with its trunk a shade,
Twice twenty men it claims to hold
Within that trunk's capacious fold;
Cowthorpe, thy venerable boast!
Nor England from her forest host
Of worthies can produce a son,
To match this woodland chief; nor one,
Who dares to loftier praise aspire,
Than children round a patriarch sire !
'Twere wonder less in days of yore,
Unlighten'd by celestial lore,
If with innate corruption blind,
To superstition prone, the mind
The stately oak's age-honour'd tree
Held consecrate to Deity,
And with obscure devotion felt,
That there the present Godhead dwelt.
Much more I wonder, in the days
When pure religion lends her rays
To lighten reason, if the mind,
To senseless unbelief consign'd,
Or cold indifference, can see
The slender seed, the stately tree;
And not, by faith upborne, her flight
Essay beyond the realms of sight,
Far off the primal Cause revere,
And cry, “The hand of God is here!”
Unlighten'd by celestial lore,
If with innate corruption blind,
To superstition prone, the mind
The stately oak's age-honour'd tree
Held consecrate to Deity,
And with obscure devotion felt,
That there the present Godhead dwelt.
Much more I wonder, in the days
When pure religion lends her rays
To lighten reason, if the mind,
To senseless unbelief consign'd,
Or cold indifference, can see
The slender seed, the stately tree;
And not, by faith upborne, her flight
Essay beyond the realms of sight,
Far off the primal Cause revere,
And cry, “The hand of God is here!”
312
Yes: guided by himself to know
God in his works display'd below,
Here on his earth the outward signs,
Whereby his glorious Godhead shines,
His own seen handywork we own;
Then yonder on his unseen throne
Seek him with faith's enlighten'd eye,
And there “the Invisible” descry .
But who would here contented pause?
Who, once induc'd effect and cause
To balance, can forbear the thought?
“If, through his works of nature taught,
Proof of the Name Divine we see,
Who from the seed produc'd the tree,
Effect so grand from cause so slight:
Whose was the wisdom and the might,
Which sow'd the gospel seed minute,
And in its season gave to shoot
A mighty tree; and bade it stand
The centre of the thirsty land,
And lift unblench'd its stately form,
Despite the rage of time and storm;
Where all the fowls of heav'n might flee,
And in its branching canopy
Securely build the shelter'd nest,
And dwell in safety and in rest!
God in his works display'd below,
Here on his earth the outward signs,
Whereby his glorious Godhead shines,
His own seen handywork we own;
Then yonder on his unseen throne
Seek him with faith's enlighten'd eye,
And there “the Invisible” descry .
But who would here contented pause?
Who, once induc'd effect and cause
To balance, can forbear the thought?
“If, through his works of nature taught,
Proof of the Name Divine we see,
Who from the seed produc'd the tree,
Effect so grand from cause so slight:
Whose was the wisdom and the might,
Which sow'd the gospel seed minute,
And in its season gave to shoot
A mighty tree; and bade it stand
The centre of the thirsty land,
And lift unblench'd its stately form,
Despite the rage of time and storm;
Where all the fowls of heav'n might flee,
And in its branching canopy
Securely build the shelter'd nest,
And dwell in safety and in rest!
| The British Months | |