THE GREAT OAK.* "O dia Quercus quæ nemorum sinus Superbienti vertice despicis, Et brachia ad ventum coruscas Regifico tenebrosa fastu." "This mighty oak, By whose immovable stem I stand, and seem In all that proud old world beyond the deep, Wears the green coronal of leaves with which Wellesley. Bryant. Monarch of all this world of shade, Of full-leaved trees, on hill, in glade, There separate, here massed; * The Oak that is the subject of the following stanzas, stands at about two hundred yards to the north of the old Abbey gate-way entrance, at Stoneleigh Abbey, contiguous to a path leading to the village of Stoneleigh. Or nobly towering, rank o'er rank, Along the gently swelling bank, Or in the river glassed It proudly stands, 'mong many more Coeval oaks, now as of yore, Majestic in repose: And maidens fair, knights proud and brave, Their plighted troth received and gave Beneath its ample boughs. See, where pre-eminent it rears Its swelling foliage o'er compeers, Like patriarchal sage. Thus looked the matchless Shakspere, placed Among those master-bards, who graced Eliza's golden age. Our present race it will survive, By those who may hereafter live In veneration held: If by the lightning's stroke unrent, Still flourishing, too prominent In grandeur to be fell'd And youth elate, in sportive mood, That bounds the interspace So green, where couch the antler'd deer, Shall strive with laughter-moving cheer The giant to embrace. How many changes, dark and bright, It flourishes, while things decay It braves the tempest's blast. How many hearts shall beat with joy, And cease to beat, ere time destroy Its storm-defying frame: |