LAUREL. 199 



The sad and musmg poetess you cheer — 

 At sight of thee Mem'ry's electric wings 

 Waft to her soul long, long forgotten things — 



Loved voices hush'd in death she seems to hear. 



ANON. 



THE LAUREL. 



The Greeks and Romans consecrated crowns of laurel 

 to glory of every kind. With them they adorned the 

 brows of warriors and of poets, of orators and philoso- 

 phers, of the vestal virgin and the emperor. 



This beautiful ^rub is found in abundance in the island 

 of Delphos, where it grows naturally on the banks of the 

 river Peneus. There, its aromatic and evergreen foliage 

 is borne up by its aspiring branches to the height of the 

 loftiest trees ; and it is alleged that by a secret and pecu- 

 liar power they avert the thunderbolt from the shores they 

 beautify. The beautiful Daphne was the daughter of the 

 river Peneus. She was beloved by Apollo ; but, preferring 

 virtue to the love of the most eloquent of gods, she fled, 

 fearing that the eloquence of his speech should lead her 

 from the paths of virtue. Apollo pursued her ; and as he 

 caught her, the nymph invoked the aid of her father, and 

 was changed into the laurel. 



In our free land, where letters are so extensively culti- 

 vated, they who succeed in exciting popular favour meet 



