4

Holland House Quarterly Review Octr 1873 page 434

There is in the grounds another venerable tree (not mentioned in this book) which Rogers thus addressed in verse (now published for the first time)

Majestic tree whose wrinkled form has stood age after age the patriarch of the wood;

Thou who hast seen a thousand springs unfold

Their ravell'd buds & dip their flowers in gold,

Ten thousand times you moon delight her horn

And that bright star of evening gild the morn

Gigantic oak! Thy hoary head sublime,

Erstwhile must perish in the weeks of time;

Should round thy head innocuous light'nings shoot

And no fierce whirlwinds shake thy steadfast root.

Yet shall thou fall - thy leafy tresses fade

And those bare scattered antlers strew the glade;

Arm after arm shall leave the moldering bust

And thy firm fibres crumble in the dust;

The muse alone shall consecrate thy fame'

Green shall thy leaves expand - thy branches play,

And bloom forever in the immortal lay.