CHAP. CIV.

CORYI.a'cK/E. ja'gus

1.959

** Oh, leave this barren spot to me!

Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!

Though bud and flow’ret never growMy dark unwarming shade below ;

Nor summer bud perfume the dew,

Of rosy blush, or yellow hue;

Nor fruits of autumn, blossom born,

My green and glossy leaves adorn ;

Nor murmuring tribes from me deriveTh’ ambrosial amber of the hive;

Yet leave this barren spot to me :

Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!

Thrice twenty summers I have seenThe sky grow bright, the forest green ;

And many a wintry wind have stoodIn blooinless, fruitless solitude,

Since childhood in my pleasant bowerFirst spent its sweet and sportive hour j.Since youthful lovers in my shadeTheir vows of truth and rapture made,

And on my trunk’s surviving frameCarved many a long forgotten name.

Oh ! by the sighs of gentle sound,

First breathed upon this sacred ground ;

By all that love has whisper’d there,

Or beauty heard with ravish’d ear jAs Love’s own altar, honour me :

Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!” Campbell.

The lines of Wordsworth are the following : —

-“ A single beech tree grew

Within the grove of firs ; and in the forkOf that one beech appear’d a thrush’s nest;

A last year’s nest, conspicuously built,

At such small elevation from the ground,

As gave sure sign that they who in that houseOf nature and of love had made their home,

Amid the fir trees all the summer long,

Dwelt in a tranquil spot”

The finest beech trees in Britain are said to grow in Hampshire; and thereis a curious legend respecting those in the Forest of St. Leonard, in thatcounty. This forest, which was the abode of St. Leonard, abounds in noblebeech trees ; and the saint was particularly fond of reposing under their shade;but, when he did so, he was annoyed during the day by vipers, and at nightby the singing of the nightingale. Accordingly, he prayed that they might beremoved; and such was the efficacy of his prayers, that, since his time, inthat forest,

“ The viper has ne’er been known to sting,

Or the nightingale e’er heard to sing.”

Properties and Uses. The beech, in a state of nature, affords food to wildpigeons and other birds, and to squirrels, deer, wild swine, and otheranimals, in autumn; but, in spring and summer, its leaves are eaten butby very few insects. It affords shade to cattle, who do not readily eateither its leaves or branches; but, by the density of its foliage, it destroysthe grass, and almost every other plant that grows beneath its shade,except the holly, and sometimes the box, and the truffle and some other fungi.Subjected to man, the beech is chiefly valued for its timber, which is ap-plied to a great variety of purposes, though to none of much importance eitherfor house or ship building. The' wood, which, when green, is harder thanthat of any of our British timber trees, weighs, when in this state, 65 lb.13 oz. per cubic foot; half-dry, it weighs 56 lb. 6 oz.; and quite dry, 50 lb. 3 oz.The wood, when the tree has grown in good soil, and on plains, has a some-what reddish tinge; but in poor soils, and on mountains, it is whitish. Itstransverse fibres are very obvious; sometimes forming distinct and ratherdark lines, and at other times showing shining dense laminae, of a darkercolour than the rest of the wood. In quality, it is hard, brittle, and very aptto be devoured by insects; and, though in beech forests, where the trees havebeen drawn up by one another, beams may frequently be had 100 ft. in length,they are seldom, if ever, employed in carpentry. The durability of the woodis said to be increased by steeping it in water; and, according to some, by dis-