212 FLORA DOMESTICA 



common to the South, becomes Ginevro. The French 

 word is Genevre, corrupted into our word Geneva. The 

 name of Ariosto's favourite lady was Gineura, which gave 

 him occasion to immortahze the Juniper-tree, as Petrarch 

 did the laurel. He says, in one of his sonnets, that with 

 the leave of Apollo and Bacchus he will be crowned with 

 Juniper, and not with the bay or the ivy : 



" Queir arboscel, che in le solinghe rive 



A r aria spiega i rami orridi ed irti, 



Ed' odor vince i pin, gli abeti, e i mirti, 



E lieto e verde al caldo, e al ghiaccio vive. 

 II nome ha di colei, che mi prescrive 



Termine e leggi a' travaghati spirti 



Da cni seguir non potran Scille o Sirti, 



Ritrarmi, o le brumah ore, o lo estive : 

 E se benigno influsso di pianeta 



Lunghe vigilie, od amorosi sproni 



Son per condurmi ad onorata meta; 

 Non vogho (e Febo, e Bacco mi perdoni) 



Che lor frondi mi mostrino poeta. 



Ma che un Ginebro sia che mi coroni" 



Ariosto, Sonn. 7. 



" The shrub that on solitary shores spreads to the air its dark and 

 bristled branches, outscenting pines, and firs, and myrtles ; still green 

 in summer's heat, and winter's cold ; bears the name of her who pre- 

 scribes terms and lav/s to my troubled soul : laws that I will not be 

 turned from following, either by rocks, or whirlpools ; either in the 

 wintry season, or the summer. And if the benign influences of the 

 planet, long watchings, or amorous zeal, are to conduct me to that 

 height of honour, I will not (Phoebus and Bacchus pardon me) that 

 their leaves should declare me for a poet, but that a Juniper should 

 crown my brow." 



Tasso, in his miscellaneous poems, has two sonnets to 

 a similar purpose. 



Before the use of carpets in Europe, the richest people 

 used to strew their apartments with dried leaves and 

 rushes. Queen Elizabeth walked on no better floor. 

 The gentlemen and ladies in Boccaccio are luxurious 



