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ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

is supposed to be 300 years old ; and it is said that, when Philip , Infant ofSpain, and son of Philip V., was defeated in Italy , in 1747, the remains ofhis army took refuge in Provence, and 22 of the Spanish soldiers hid them-selves in this tree. ( Annales de la Soc. d’Hort. de Paris, vol. xv. p. 41.)

Poetical and mythological Allusions. The cypress was considered by theancients as an emblem of immortality, and, as such, was dedicated to the dead.It was also held sacred to Proserpine and Pluto. It was esteemed theemblem of immortality, from its being evergreen, and from its power of risingagain when bent down by the wind, or manual force. This power is alludedto in the following lines from Statius : —

«* The mountain cypress thus, that firmly stoodFrom age to age, the empress of the wood,

By some strong whirlwind’s sudden blast declined,

Bends arching down, and nods before the wind :

The deep roots tremble till the blast blows o’er,

And then she rises stately as before.” Harte’s Statius .

The ancient poets who have mentioned this tree are very numerous:Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Lucan , and many other of the poets of antiquity,make frequent allusions to it. Virgil frequently speaks of its use in funeralceremonies, particularly at that of Misenus : —

“ Ingentem struxere pyram: cui frondibus atrisIntexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressos

Constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis.” Mne'ul. vi. 215.

“ And first with massy logs the pile they rear,

Spreading the gloomy fronds above with care.

In front, the tapering cypress rears its head,

And bears the shining armour of the dead.”

The legend of the origin of the cypress is given by Ovid : — A beautiful stag,the favourite of Apollo, was accustomed to come every day to be fed by thegod, or his faithful attendant, Cyparissus. One day, the youth was hurlinghis spear merely for exercise, when, unfortunately, it struck and killed thestag, which was coming bounding from the forest to Cyparissus, expecting tobe caressed as usual. The youth’s grief at this accident was so great, thatApollo endeavoured in vain to comfort him : he threw himself to the groundin despair,—

“ Praying, in expiation of his crime,

Thenceforth to mourn to all succeeding time.

And now, of blood exhausted, he appearsDrain’d by a torrent of continual tears.

The fleshy colour in his body fades,

A greenish tincture all his limbs invades.

From his fair head, where curling ringlets hung,

A tapering bush, with spiry branches, sprung.

Which, stiffening by degrees, its stem extends,

Till to the starry skies the spire ascends.

Apollo saw, and sadly sighing, cried,

' . ‘ Be, then, for ever what thy prayer implied.

Bemoan’d by me, in others grief excite,

And still preside at every funeral rite. ’ ” Onto, book x.

Claudian , in his poem of the Rape of Proserpine , .says that the two torcheswhich Ceres employed to seek her daughter were not pine trees, but twocypresses, which grew on Mount Etna .

Tasso, in his Gerusalemme Liberata , says, —

“ Sorse a pari col sole, ed egli stesso

Seguir la pompa funeral poi voile;

A Dudon, d’ odorifero cipresso,

Composto hanno un sepolcro a pid d’ un colle.” Canto in.

The following lines are by De Lille, in Les Jardins : —

— .. ** Et toi, tristc cyprds,

Fiddle ami des morts, protecteur de leurs cendres,

Ta tige, chfere au cceur, melancolique et tendre,

Laisse la joie au myrte, et la gloire au laurier.

Tu n’est point l’arbre heureux de l’amant, du guerrier,

Je le sais; mais ton deuil compatit k nos peines.”

Among the English poets, from the time of Spenser to the present day, theallusions to the cypress are very numerous. Lord Byron says, speaking oithe simoon: —