340
A DISCOURSE
book iv.| Cherry-tree, (the wild one I suppose) which has a very smooth rind, asthe witty Calphurnius:
Die age: nam Cerasi tua cortice verba notabo,
Et decisa feram rutilanti carmina libro.
Repeat, thy words on Cherry bark I’ll take,
And that red skin ray table-book will make.
Let us add the sweet Propertiust
Ah quoties teneras resonant mea verba sub umbras,
Scribitur et vestris Cynthia Corticibus, Lib. i. Eleg. xviii.
* Theocrit. And so deep were the incisions made, as that of Helena * on the Platan,me! Idyll!^8°" C“ f 7ra -t‘ ay T ' f rjja y vc ' iri ) that one might run and read them. And thus forsa-ken lovers appeal to Pines, Beeches, and other trees of the forest. Butwe have dwelt too long on these trifles, omitting also what we might re-late of feasting, banqueting, and other splendid entertainments under trees,nay, sometimes in the very bodies of them. We will now change thescene, as the Egyptians did the mirth of their guests, when they servedin a scull to make them more serious: For thus,
Amongst other uses of Groves, I read that some nations were wont tohang, not malefactors only, but their departed friends, and those whomthey most esteemed, upon trees, as so much nearer to heaven, and dedi-cated to God , believing it far more honourable than to be buried in theearth. And that some affected to repose rather in these woody places,Propertius seems to speak:
Di faciant, mca ne terra locet ofsa frequentiQua facit afsiduo tramite vulgus iter.
Post mortem tumuli sic infamantur amantum,
Me tegat arborea devia terra coma.
The gods forbid my bones in the high road
Should lie, by every wand’ring vulgar trod.
Thus buried lovers are to scorn expos’d :
My tomb in some by-arbor be inclos’d.
The same is affirmed of other septentrional people by Chr. Cilicus deBello Dithmarsico, lib. i. It was upon the trunk of a knotty and sturdyOak the antient heroes were wont to hang the arms and weapons taken