CHAP. CXI IT.

CONl'FF.ltTE. cupre'ssus.

2471

2326

t jT-J f-A

When measured for us by direction of Signor Manetti, this tree was found tobe 121 ft. high, and 23 ft. in circumference at 1 ft. from the ground. Besidesits great age, the cypress of Soma is remarkable for having been wounded byFrancis I., who is said to have struck his sword into it, in his despair at losingthe battle of Pavia; and for having been respected by Napoleon, who, whenlaying down the plan for his great road over the Simplon, diverged from thestraight line to avoid injuring this tree.

The cypress of Hafiz, near Shiraz, is mentioned by several writers. Taver-nier, in 166.5, says that it required four men to embrace it. Chardin alsomentions it; as does Johnson, who visited it in 1817. This tree is said bysome to have been planted by the poet himself; and, by others, to have grownover his grave. In Kaempfer’s Amoenitates Escoticce,Sic., however, there is givena plate of the sepulchre of Hafiz (see Jig. 2326.), from a Persian drawing; and,in the description, it is stated that Hafiz, who died in 1340, was buried in asquare cemetery shaded by poplars, a rare tree in Persia; and that the wallwhich surrounded it was built to coincide in direction with the boundary ofthe cypress grove in the adjoining garden, which had belonged to the poet,and was bequeathed by him for the preservation of his cemetery. In thisgarden, probably, was the celebrated cypress alluded to by the travellers.The small tombstones shown in Jig. 2326. are those of persons who wishedto be buried under the guardian influence of the poet.

The cypresses of Chartreux were planted by Michael Angelo; and they wereseen by M. Simond, who, in his Travels through Italy in 1817, visited thegarden of the convent of the Chartreux, situated on the site of the baths ofDioclesian at Rome. There are three trees, all nearly the same size; andthe trunk of the largest, when measured by M. Simond, was about 13 ft. incircumference.

Los Cypressos de la Reyna Sultana are mentioned by Hunter in his editionof Evelyn’s Sylva, and by M. Loiseleur Deslongchamps, in his very able articleon the cypress in the Annales de la Societe d’Horticulture de Pans, vol. xv. Thesenoble trees formed an avenue in the gardens of the palace of the Generaiife atGranada; and under their shade the last Moorish king of Granada is saidto have surprised his wife with one of the Abencerages, which led to themassacre of thirty-six princes of that race. These trees were still in exist-ence in 1832, when (as according to the legend, they were large trees in 1490)they must have been nearly 400 years old.

The oldest and largest cypress in France is one near St. Remy, in Pro-vence. When measured by MM. Audibert and Varrel, in October, 1832, itwas 55 ft. 6 in. high, French (above 60 ft. English); the circumference of thetrunk was 14 ft. (15 ft. 2 in.), and of the head 75 ft. (82 ft. 3 in.). This tree