484 WILD FLOWERS OF 



So PLIISTY states that " groves were of old the temples 



of the gods, and after that simple but ancient custom, 



men at this day consecrate the fairest and goodliest 



trees to some deity or other ; nor do we more adore 



our glittering shrines of gold and ivory, than the groves 



in which, with a profound and awful silence, we wor- 



ship them." Eaunus, however, came to be considered 



the tutelary deity of woods, while each individual tree 



was considered to be the habitation of a Dryad, or 



sylvan nymph, who sometimes miraculously spoke, 



and generally indicated her displeasure if her habita- 



tion was invaded by the sacrilegious axe, though she 



had power to remove and change her dendroidal habi- 



tation. EVELYN, in his Sylva, published in 1706, in 



reference to this, remarks, in his quaint humorous 



style, that " as to those nymphs, grieving to be dis- 



possessed of their ancient habitations, the fall of a 



very aged oak, giving a crack like thunder, has been 



often heard at many miles distance : nor do I at any 



time hear the groans, without some emotion and 



The Arcadians went so far in their devotion to 

 trees, that they professed to be actually descended from 

 the venerable oaks whose extent of boughs shadowed 

 over their hills ; so that it is hardly to be wondered at 

 that more savage barbarians, awed by the altitude, 

 strength, majesty, and apparent eternity of duration 

 of their vast primeval trees, as well as witnesses of 

 their utility, should ascribe to them supernatural and 

 divine powers, and view their hoary mouldy trunks 

 and tortuous mossy boughs from a distance with the 

 chilly trembling of superstition. Besides the oracular 

 powers ascribed to consecrated trees around the fane* 



