Burn ash-wood green,
'Tis a fire for a queen:
Burn ash-wood sear,
'Twill make a man swear.
Ash, when green, makes good fire-wood, and, contrary perhaps to all
other sorts of wood, is bad for that purpose when _sear_, or dry,
withered. The old Anglo-Saxon term _sear_ is well illustrated by this
homely proverb. The reader will remember Macbeth:
I have lived long enough:
My way of life is fallen into the _sear_ and yellow leaf.