Sylva Part 23

2. _Buxus_, the box, which we begin to proscribe our gardens (and indeed bees are no friend to it) should not yet be banish'd from our care; because the excellency of the wood does commute for the unagreeableness of its smell: Therefore let us furnish our cold and barren hills and declivities with this useful shrub, I mean the taller sort; for dwarf and more tonsile in due place; it will increase abundantly of slips set in March, and towards Bartholomew-tide, as also of the seeds contain'd in the cells: These trees rise naturally at Boxley in Kent in abundance, and in the county of Surrey, giving name to that Chalky Hill (near the famous Mole or Swallow) whither the ladies, gentlemen and other water-drinkers from the neighbouring Ebesham-Spaw, often resort during the heat of Summer to walk, collation and divert themselves in those _antilex_ natural alleys, and shady recesses, among the box-trees; without taking any such offence at the smell, which has of late banish'd it from our groves and gardens; when after all, it is infinitely to be preferr'd for the bordering of flower-beds, and flat embroideries, to any sweeter les-lasting shrub whatever, subject after a year or two to grow dry, sticky and full of gaps; which box is so little obnoxious to, that, braving all seasons, it needs not to be renew'd for 20 years together, nor kept in order with the garden-sheers, above once or twice a year, and immediately upon that, the casting water on it, hinders all those offensive emissions, which some complain of: But whilst I speak in favour of this sort of edging, I only recommend the use of the Dutch-box, (rarely found growing in England) which is a _pumil_ dwarf kind, with a smaller leaf, and slow of growth, and which needs not be kept above two inches high, and yet grows so close, that beds bordered with boards, keep not the earth in better order; beside the pleasantness of the verdure is incomparable.

One thing more I think fit to add; That it may be convenient once in four, or five, or six years, to cut off the strings and roots which straggle into the borders, with a very sharp spade, that they may not prejudice the flowers, and what else one plants in them.

I need not speak much of the uses of this tree, (growing in time to considerable stature) so continually sought after for many utensils, being so hard, close and pondrous as to sink like lead in water, and therefore of special use for the turner, ingraver, carver, mathematical-instrument, comb and pipe-makers (_si buxos inflare juvat_...... Virg.) give great prices for it by weight, as well as measure; and by the seasoning, and divers manner of cutting, vigorous insolations, politure and grinding, the roots of this tree (as of even our common and neglected thorn) do furnish the inlayer and cabinet-makers with pieces rarely undulated, and full of variety. Also of box are made wheels or s.h.i.+vers (as our s.h.i.+p-carpenters call them) and pins for blocks and pullies; pegs for musical instruments; nut-crackers, weavers-shuttles, hollar-sticks, b.u.mp-sticks, and dressers for the shooe-maker, rulers, rolling-pins, pestles, mall-b.a.l.l.s, beetles, topps, tables, chess-men, screws, male and female, bobins for bone-lace, spoons, nay the stoutest axle-trees, but above all,

........Box-combs bear no small part In the militia of the female-art; They tye the links which hold our gallants fast, And spread the nets to which fond lovers hast.{296:1}

3. The chymical oyl of this wood has done the feats of the best _guajac.u.m_ (though in greater quant.i.ty) for the cure of venereal diseases, as one of the most expert physicians in Europe has confess'd.

The oyl a.s.swages the tooth-ache. But, says Rhodoginus, the honey which is made at Trevisond in box-trees, (I suppose he means gather'd among them; for there are few, I believe, if any, so large and hollow as to lodge and hive them) renders them distracted who eat of it. Lib. XXIII.

cap. 25.

V. Since the use of bows is laid aside amongst us, the propagation of the yew-tree (of which we have two sorts, and other places reckon more, as the Arcadian black and red; the yellow of Ida, infinitely esteem'd of old) is likewise quite forborn; but the neglect of it is to be deplor'd; seeing that (besides the rarity of it in Italy and France, where but little of it grows) the barrenest grounds, and coldest of our mountains (for

........._Aquilonem & frigora taxi_)

might be profitably replenish'd with them: I say, profitably, for, besides the use of the wood for bows

........._Ityraeos taxi torquentur in arcus._

(For which the close and more deeply dy'd is best) the forementioned artists in box, cabinet-makers, inlayers, and for the parquete-floors, most gladly employ it; and in Germany they use to wainscot their stoves with boards of this material: Also for the cogs of mills, posts to be set in moist grounds, and everlasting axel-trees, there is none to be compared with it; likewise for the bodies of lutes, theorbo's, bowles, wheels, and pins for pullies; yea, and for tankards to drink out of; whatever Pliny reports concerning its shade, and the stories of the air about Thasius, the fate of Cativulcus mention'd by Caesar, and the ill report which the fruit has vulgarly obtain'd in France, Spain, and Arcadia: But

How are poor trees traduc'd?{297:1}

5. The toxic quality was certainly in the liquor, which those good fellows tippl'd out of those bottles, not in the nature of the wood; which yet he affirms is cur'd of that venenous quality, by driving a brazen-wedge into the body of it: This I have never tried, but that of the shade and fruit I have frequently, without any deadly or noxious effects: So that I am of opinion, that tree which Sestius calls _smilax_, and our historian thinks to be our yew, was some other wood; and yet I acknowledge that it is esteem'd noxious to cattle when 'tis in the seeds, or newly sprouting; though I marvel there appear no more such effects of it, both horses and other cattle being free to brouse on it, where it naturally grows: But what is very odd (if true) is that which the late Mr. Aubrey recounts (in his _Miscellanies_) of a gentlewoman that had long been ill, without any benefit from the physician; who dream'd, that a friend of hers deceased, told her mother, that if she gave her daughter a drink of yew pounded, she should recover: She accordingly gave it her, and she presently died: The mother being almost distracted for the loss of her daughter, her chambermaid, to comfort her, said, surely what she gave her was not the occasion of her death, and that she would adventure on it her self; she did so, and died also: Whether all this be but a dream, I cannot tell, but it was haply from these lugubrous effects, that garlands of _taxus_ were usually carried at funerals, as Statius implies in _Epicedium vernae_: However, to prevent all funest accidents, I commend the tree only for the usefulness of the timber, and hortulan ornament. That we find it so universally planted in our church-yards, was doubtless some symbol of immortality, the tree being so lasting, and always green: Our bee-masters banish it from about their apiaries.

One thing more, whilst I am speaking of this tree; it minds me of that very odd story I find related by Mr. Camden, of a certain amorous clergy-man, that falling in love with a pretty maid who refus'd his addresses, cut off her head; which being hung upon a yew-tree 'till it was rotten, the tree was reputed so sacred, not only whilst the virgin's head hung on it, but as long as the tree it self lasted; to which the people went in pilgrimage, plucking and bearing away branches of it, as an holy relique, whilst there remain'd any of the trunk left, persuading themselves, that those small veins and filaments, (resembling hairs between the bark and the body of the tree) were the hairs of the virgin: But what is yet stranger, that the resort to this place (then call'd Houton) (from a despicable village) occasion'd the building of the now famous town Hallifax, in York-s.h.i.+re, which imports holy-hair: By this, and the like, may we estimate what a world of impostures, have through craft and superst.i.tion gained the repute of holy-places, abounding with rich oblations (their _de voto's_).

Pliny speaks of an old lotus tree in a grove near Rome, which they call'd _capitale_, upon which the vestals present (as our nuns) were us'd to hang their hair cut off at their profession: Plin. lib. 16. c.

43. But that is nothing to this.

I may not in the mean time omit what has been said of the true _taxus_ of the ancients, for being a mortiferous plant: Dr. Belluccio, President of the Medical Garden at Pisa in Tuscany, (where they have this curiosity) affirms, that when his gardners clip it (as sometimes they do) they are not able to work above half an hour at a time, it makes their heads so ake: But the leaves of this tree are more like the fir, and is very bushy, furnish'd with leaves from the very root, and seeming rather an hedge than a tree, tho' it grow very tall.

6. This English yew-tree is easily produc'd of the seeds, wash'd and cleans'd from their mucilage, then buried and dry'd in sand a little moist, any time in December, and so kept in some vessel in the house all Winter, and in some cool shady place abroad all the Summer, sow them the Spring after: Some bury them in the ground like haws; it will commonly be the second Winter e're they peep, and then they rise with their caps on their heads: Being three years old, you may transplant them, and form them into standards, k.n.o.bs, walks, hedges, &c. in all which works they succeed marvellous well, and are worth our patience for their perennial verdure and durableness: I do again name them for hedges, preferable for beauty, and a stiff defence to any plant I have ever seen, and may upon that account (without vanity) be said to have been the first which brought it into fas.h.i.+on, as well for defence, as for a _succedaneum_ to cypress, whether in hedges, or pyramids, conic-spires, bowls or what other shapes, adorning the parks or larger avenues, with their lofty tops 30 foot high, and braving all the efforts of the most rigid Winter, which cypress cannot weather; I have said how long lasting they are, and easily to be shap'd and clipp'd; nay cut down, revive: But those which are much superannuated, and perhaps of many hundred years standing, perish if so us'd.

7. He that in Winter should behold some of our highest hills in Surrey, clad with whole woods of these two last sort of trees, for divers miles in circuit (as in those delicious groves of them, belonging to the Honourable, my n.o.ble friend, the late Sir Adam Brown of Bech-worth-Castle, from Box-hill) might without the least violence to his imagination, easily fancy himself transported into some new or enchanted country; for, if any spot of England,

........'Tis here Eternal Spring, and Summer all the year.{300:1}

Of which I have already spoken in the former section.

8. But, above all the natural greens which inrich our home-born store, there is none certainly to be compar'd to the _agrifolium_, (or _acuifolium_ rather) our holly so spontaneously growing here in this part of Surrey, that the large vale near my own dwelling, was anciently call'd Holmes-Dale; famous for the flight of the Danes: The inhabitants of great antiquity (in their manners, habits, speech) have a proverb, Holmes-Dale never won; he never shall. It had once a fort, call'd Homes-Dale Castle: I know not whether it might not be that of Rygate; but leaving this uncertain, and return to the plant, I have often wonder'd at our curiosity after foreign plants, and expensive difficulties, to the neglect of the culture of this vulgar, but incomparable tree; whether we will propagate it for use and defence, or for sight and ornament.

A hedge of holly, thieves that would invade, Repulses like a growing palizade; Whose numerous leaves such orient greens invest, As in deep Winter do the Spring arrest.{301:1}

Which makes me wonder why it should be reckon'd among the unfortunate trees, by Macrobius, _Sat._ lib. III. cap. 20. others among the lucky; for so it seems they us'd to send branches of it, as well as of oak (the most fortunate, according to the Gentile theology) with their _strenae_ (new-year's gifts) begun (as Symachus tells us) by K. Tatius, almost as old as Rome her self.

But to say no more of these superst.i.tious fopperies, which are many other about this tree, we still dress up both our churches and houses, on Christmas and other festival days, with this cheerful green and rutilant berries.

9. Is there under heaven a more glorious and refres.h.i.+ng object of the kind, than an impregnable hedge of about four hundred foot in length, nine foot high, and five in diameter; which I can shew in my now ruin'd gardens at Say's-Court, (thanks to the Czar of Moscovy) at any time of the year, glitt'ring with its arm'd and varnish'd leaves? The taller standards at orderly distances, blus.h.i.+ng with their natural coral: It mocks at the rudest a.s.saults of the weather, beasts, or hedge-breakers,

_Et illum nemo impune lacessit._

It is with us of two eminent kinds, the p.r.i.c.kly, and smoother leav'd; or as some term it, the free-holly, not unwelcome when tender, to sheep and other cattle: There is also of the white-berried, and a golden and silver, variegated in six or seven differences; which proceeds from no difference in the species, but accidentally, and _naturae lusu_, as most such variegations do; since we are taught how to effect it artificially, namely, by sowing the seeds, and planting in gravelly soil, mixed with store of chalk, and pressing it hard down; it being certain, that they return to their native colour when sown in richer mould, and that all the fibers of the roots recover their natural food.

10. I have already shew'd how it is to be rais'd of the berries, (of which there is a sort bears them yellow, and propagate their colour) when they are ready to drop, this only omitted, that they would first be freed from their tenacious and glutinous mucilage by being wash'd, and a little bruised, then dry'd with a cloath; or else bury them as you do the yew and hipps; and let our forester receive this for no common secret, and take notice of the effect: If you will sow them in the berry, keep them in dry sand till March; remove them also after three or four years; but if you plant the sets (which is likewise a commendable way, and the woods will furnish enough) place'em northwards, as they do quick. Of this, might there living pales and enclosures be made, (such as the Right Honourable my Lord Dacres, somewhere in Suss.e.x, has a park almost environ'd with, able to keep in any game, as I am credibly inform'd) and cut into square hedges, it becomes impenetrable, and will thrive in hottest, as well as the coldest places. I have seen hedges, or if you will, stout walls of holly, 20 foot in height, kept upright, and the gilded sort budded low, and in 2 or 3 places one above another, shorn and fas.h.i.+on'd into columns and pilasters, architectonially shap'd, and at due distance; than which nothing can possibly be more pleasant, the berry adorning the intercolumniations, with the scarlet festoons and _encarpa_. Of this n.o.ble tree one may take thousands of them four inches long, out of the woods (amongst the fall'n leaves whereof, they sow themselves) and so plant them; but this should be before the cattle begin to crop them, especially sheep, who are greedy of them when tender: Stick them into the ground in a moist season, Spring, or early Autumn; especially the Spring, shaded (if it prove too hot and scorching) till they begin to shoot of themselves, and in very sharp weather, and during our eastern _etesians_, cover'd with dry straw or haume; and if any of them seem to perish, cut it close, and you shall soon see it revive. Of these seedlings, and by this culture, I have rais'd plants and hedges full four foot high in four years: The l.u.s.tier and bigger the sets are, the better, and if you can procure such as are a thumbs-breadth thick, they will soon furnish into an hedge. At Dengeness in Kent, they grow naturally amongst the very beach and pibbles; but if your ground be stiff, loosen it with a little fine gravel: This rare hedge (the boast of my villa) was planted upon a burning gravel, expos'd to the meridian sun; for it refuses not almost any sort of barren ground, hot or cold, and often indicates where coals are to be dug.

11. True it is, that time must bring this tree to perfection; it does so to all things else, & _posteritati pangimus_. But what if a little culture about the roots (not dunging, which it abhors) and frequent stirring of the mould, double its growth? We stay seven years for a tolerable quick, it is worth staying it thrice, for this, which has no compet.i.tor.

12. And yet there is an expedient to effect it more insensibly, by planting it with the quick: Let every fifth or sixth be an holly-set; they will grow up infallibly with your quick; and as they begin to spread, make way for them by extirpating the white-thorn, till they quite domineer: Thus was my hedge first planted, without the least interruption to the fence, by a most pleasant metamorphosis. But there is also another, not less applauded, by laying along well-rooted sets (a yard or more in length) and stripping off the leaves and branches, letting only something of the tops appear: These, cover'd with a competent depth of earth, will send forth innumerable suckers, which will suddenly advance into an hedge; and grows as well under the shade as sun, provided you keep them weeded, and now and then loosen the earth; towards which, if thro' extream neglect, or other accident, it grow thin, being close cut down, it will fill and become stronger and thicker than ever.

Of this stately shrub (as some reckon it) there is lately found an holly, whose leaves are as th.o.r.n.y and bristly, not only at the edges, but all over, as an hedge-hog, which it may properly be call'd; and I think was first brought by Mr. London out of France.

13. The timber of the holly (besides that it is the whitest of all hard woods, and therefore us'd by the inlayer, especially under thin plates of ivory, to render it more conspicuous) is for all st.u.r.dy uses; the mill-wright, turner and engraver, prefer it to any other: It makes the best handles and stocks for tools, flails, riding rods the best, and carters-whips; bowles, s.h.i.+vers, and pins for blocks: Also it excels for door-bars and bolts; and as of the elm, so of this especially, they made even hinges and hooks to serve instead of iron, sinking in the water like it; and of the bark is compos'd our bird-lime thus:

14. Pill a good quant.i.ty of the bark about Midsummer, fill a vessel with it, and put to it spring-water; then boil it, till the gray and white bark rise from the green, which will require near twelve hours boiling; then taking it off the fire, separate the barks, the water first well drained from it: Then lay the green bark on the earth, in some cool vault or cellar, covering it with any sort of green and rank weeds, such as dock, thistles, hemlock, &c. to a good thickness: Thus let it continue near a fortnight, by which time 'twill become a perfect mucilage: Then pound it all exceedingly in a stone mortar, 'till it be a tough past, and so very fine, as no part of the bark be discernable: This done, wash it accurately well in some running stream of water, as long as you perceive the least ordure or motes in it, and so reserve it in some earthen-pot, to purge and ferment, sc.u.mming it as often as any thing arises for four or five days, and when no more filth comes, change it into a fresh vessel of earth, and reserve it for use, thus: Take what quant.i.ty you please of it, and in an earthen pipkin, add a third part of capons or goose-grease to it, well clarified; or oyl of walnuts, which is better: Incorporate these on a gentle fire, continually stirring it 'till it be cold, and thus your composition is finish'd. But to prevent frosts (which in severe weather will sometimes invade it on the rods) take a quarter of as much oyl of petroleum, as you do of grease, and no cold whatever will congeal it. The Italians make their _vischio_ of the berries of the misselto of trees, (and indeed it is from this it is said of the thrush, _exitium suum cacat_, that bird being so exceeding devourers of them) treated much after the same manner; but then they mix it with nut-oyl, an ounce to a pound of lime, and taking it from the fire, add half an ounce of turpentine, which qualifies it also for the water. Great quant.i.ties of bird-lime are brought to us out of Turky, and from Damascus, which some conceive to be made of _sebestens_, finding sometimes the kernels: This lime is of a greener colour, subject to frosts, and impatient of wet, nor will last above a year or two good: Another sort comes also out of Syria, of a yellow hue; likewise from Spain, whiter than the rest, which will resist the water, but is of an ill scent. I have been told that the _cortex_ of our _lantana_, or wayfaring shrub, will make as good bird-lime as the best. But let these suffice, being more than as yet any one has publish'd. The superior leaves of holly-trees, dry'd to a fine powder, and drunk in white-wine, are prevalent against the stone, and cure fluxes; and a dozen of the mature berries, being swallow'd, purge phlegm without danger. To which the learned Mr. Ray (in _Append. Plant. Angl._) adds a _zythogalum_, or posset made of milk and beer, in which is boil'd some of the most pointed leaves, for a.s.swaging the torment of the collic, when nothing else has prevailed. And now I might have here planted the

15. _Pyracantha_, both for its perpetual verdure, if the fences had not already challeng'd it, chap. 20. lib. I.

16. The _lauro-cerasus_ on cherry-bay, which by the use we commonly put it to, seems as if it had been only destin'd for hedges, and to cover bare walls: Being planted upright, and kept to the standard, by cutting away the collateral branches, and maintaining one stem, will rise to a very considerable tree; and (for the first twenty years) resembling the most beautiful-headed orange, in shape and verdure, arrive in time to emulate even some of our l.u.s.ty timber-trees; so as I dare p.r.o.nounce the laurel to be one of the most proper and ornamental trees for walks and avenues, of any growing.

17. Pity it is they are so abus'd in the hedges, where the lower branches growing sticky and dry, by reason of their frequent and unseasonable cutting (with the genius of the tree, which is to spend much in wood) they never succeed, after the first six or seven years; but are to be new-planted again, or abated to the very roots for a fresh shoot, which is best, and soon would furnish the places. In a word; as to the pruning of evergreen-hedges, there is no small skill and address to be us'd, in forming and tr.i.m.m.i.n.g them for beauty and stability; by leaving the lower parts next the ground broader (two foot were sufficient for the thickness of the tallest hedge) than the tops, gradually, so as not much to exceed a foot breadth at the upmost verge, (as architects diminish walls of stone and brick from the foundation) for they will else be apt to bend and swagg, especially laden with Winter-snows or ice; grow too thick, heat, wither, and foul within, dry and sticky especially; when it were more than time they were cut close to earth, for a fresh and verdant Spring; and this method is to be practis'd in all hedges whatsoever.

18. But would you yet improve the standard which I celebrate, to greater and more speedy exaltation? Bud your laurel on the black-cherry stock to what height you please: This I had from an ocular testimony, who was more than somewhat doubtful of such alliances; though something like it in Palladius speaks it not so impossible;

A cherry graft on laurel-stock does stain The virgin fruit in a deep double grain.{308:1}

19. They are rais'd of the seeds or berries with extraordinary facility, or propagated by layers, _taleae_, and cuttings, set about the latter end of August, or earlier at St. James-tide, where-ever there is shade and moisture. Besides that of the wood, the leaves of this laurel boil'd in milk, impart a very grateful tast of the almond; and of the berry (or cherries rather, of which poultrey generally feed on) is made a wine, to some not unpleasant: I find little concerning the uses of this tree; of the wood are said to be made the best plow-handles. Now that this rare tree was first brought from Civita Vecchia into England, by the Countess of Arundel, wife to that ill.u.s.trious patron of arts and antiquities, Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Great Great Grand-Father to his Grace the present Duke of Norfolk, whom I left sick at Padoa, where he died; highly displeased at his grand-son Philip's putting on the friars-frock, tho' afterwards the purple, when Cardinal of Norfolk: After all, I cannot easily a.s.sent to the tradition, tho' I had it from a n.o.ble hand: I rather think it might first be brought out of some more northerly clime, the nature of the tree so delighting and flouris.h.i.+ng in the shady and colder exposures, and abhorrence of heat.

To crown this chapter then, tho' in the last place, (for so _finis coronat opus_) we reserve the bay tree.

20. Bays, [_laurus vulgaris_]. The learned Isaac Vossius and etymologists are wonderfully curious, in their conjecture concerning its derivation; (_a laude_ says Issidor,) and from the ingenious poet, we learn how it became sacred to Apollo, the patron of the wits, and ever since the meed of conquerors and heroic persons. But leaving fiction, we pa.s.s to the culture of this n.o.ble and fragrant tree, propagated both by their seeds, roots, suckers or layers: They (namely, the berries) should be gather'd dropping-ripe: Pliny has a particular process for the ordering of them, not to be rejected, which is to gather them in January, and spreading them till their sweat be over; then he puts them in dung and sows them: As for the steeping in wine, water does altogether as well, others wash the seeds from their mucilage, by breaking and bruising glutinous berries; then sow them in rich ground in March, by scores in a heap; and indeed so they will come up in cl.u.s.ters, but nothing so well, nor fit for transplantation, as where they are interr'd with a competent scattering, so as you would furrow pease: Both this way, and by setting them apart (which I most commend) I have rais'd mult.i.tudes, and that in the berries, kept in sand till the Spring, without any farther preparation; only for the first two years, they would be defended from the piercing winds, which frequently destroy them; and yet the scorching of their tender leaves ought not to make you despair, for many of them will recover beyond expectation; nay, tho'

quite cut down, they repullulate and produce young suckers: Such as are rais'd of berries, may at 3 years growth be transplanted; which let alone too long, are difficult to take.

21. This aromatic tree greatly loves the mothers shade, (under which nothing else will prosper) yet thrives best in our hottest gravel, having once pa.s.s'd those first difficulties: Age, and culture about the roots, wonderfully augment its growth; so as I have seen trees near thirty foot high of them, and almost two foot diameter. They make walking-staves, strait, strong and light, for old gentlemen; and are fit also both for arbour and palisade-work, so the gardener understand when to prune and keep it from growing too woody. And here I cannot but take notice of those beautiful case-standards, which of late you have had out of Flanders, &c. with stems so even and upright; heads so round, full, and flouris.h.i.+ng, as seem to exceed all the topiary ornaments of the garden; that one tree of them has been sold for more than twenty pounds; tho' now the mystery reveal'd, the price be much abated: And doubtless as good might be rais'd here, (without sending beyond-sea for them) were our gardeners as industrious to cultivate and shape them: Some there are, who imagine them of another species than our ordinary bay, but erroneously. I wonder we plant not whole groves of them, and abroad; they being hardy enough, grow upright, and would make a n.o.ble _daphneon_. The berries are emollient, soveraign in affections of the nerves, collics, gargarisms, baths, salves, and perfumes: Bay-leaves dryed in a fire-pan, and reduc'd to a fine powder, as much as will cover half a crown, being drank in wine, seldom fail of curing an ague. And some have us'd the leaves instead of cloves, imparting its relish in sauce, especially of fish; and the very dry sticks of the tree, strew'd over with a little powder or dust of sulphur, and vehemently rub'd against one another, will immediately take fire; as will likewise the wood of an old ivy; nay, without any intentive addition, by friction only.

21. Amongst other things, it has of old been observ'd that the bay is ominous of some funest accident, if that be so accounted which Suetonius (in _Galba_) affirms to have happen'd before the death of the monster Nero, when these trees generally wither'd to the very roots in a very mild winter: And much later, that in the year 1629, when at Padoa, preceding a great pestilence, almost all the bay-trees about that famous University grew sick and perish'd: _Certo quasi praesagio_ (says my author) _Apollinem musaque subsequenti anno urbe illa bonarum literarum domicilio excessuras_. --But that this was extraordinary, we are told the emperor Claudius upon occasion of a raging pestilence, was by his physicians advis'd to remove his court to Laurentium, the aromatick emissions of that tree being in such reputation for clearing the air, and resisting contagion; upon which account I question not but Pliny (the nephew) was so frequently at his beloved Laurentium, so near the city. Besides, for their vertue against lightning, which Tiberius so exceedingly dreaded, that when it came with thunder, he would creep under his bed to avoid it, and shaded his head with the boughs. The story of the branch in the bill of the white-hen, let fall into the lap of Livia Drusilla, being planted, prosper'd so floridly, as made it reputed so sacred, as to use it for impaling the heads of the triumphing emperors, and to adorn the _limina_ of the temples and royal palace of the great Pontiff; and thence call'd _janitrices Caesarum_:

_c.u.m tandem apposita velantur limina lauro, Cingit & Augustas arbor opaca fores!

Num quia perpetuos meruerunt ista triumphos?_

As still at present in Rome and other cities, they use to trim up their churches and monastries on solemn festivals, when there is station and indulgences granted in honour of the saint or patron; as also on occasion of signal victories, and other joyful tidings; and those garlands made up with hobby-horse tinsel, make a glitterring show, and rattling noise when the air moves them.

With the leaves of laurel, they made up their dispatches and letters, _laureis involutae_, wrapt in bay-leaves, which they sent to the senate from the victorious general: The spears, lances and _fasces_, nay, tents and s.h.i.+ps, &c. were all dress'd up with laurels; and in triumph every common-soldier carryed a sprig in their hand, as we may see in the ancient and best _ba.s.s-relievo_ of the ancients, as of virtue to purge them from blood and slaughter. And now after all this, might one conjecture by a mere inspection of those several sculps, statues, and medals yet exstant, representing the heads of emperors, poets, &c. the wreaths and coronets seem to be compos'd of a more flexible and compliant species than the common bay, and more applicable to the brows, except where the ends and stalks of the tender branch were tyed together with a _lemnisc_ or ribbon. And there be yet{313:1} who contend for the Alexandrian laurel, and the _tinus_ as more ductile; but without any good evidence. Pliny I find says nothing of this question, naming only the Cyprian and Delphic; besides, the figure, colour of the rind and leaf, crackling in the fire, which it impugns, (as 'tis said it does lightning) gives plainly the honour of it to the common bay. We say nothing of its sacred use in the Gentile l.u.s.tration, purgation, and several other attributes. To conclude;

From laurel{313:3} chew'd the Pythian priestess rose, Events of future actions to disclose.

Laurel triumphant generals did wear, And laurel heralds in their hands did bear.

Poets ambitious of unfading praise, Phoebus, the Muses all are crown'd with bays.

And vertue to her sons the prize does name Symbol of glory, and immortal fame.{313:2}