112 THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE 



pared with most other trees, and notably the oak. While 

 the entomologist finds but little spoil in the beech woods, 

 the fungologist gathers a rich harvest of quaint and in- 

 teresting forms. The leaves of the beech decay very 

 slowly, and were formerly both in England and on 

 the Continent in great repute for stuffing beds with, 

 as they continue sweet and elastic for many years. Their 

 use for this purpose extends back many centuries, for 

 we find Juvenal and other classic writers singing their 

 praises. 



The smooth trunk of the beech is another very char- 

 acteristic feature. It is of a general olive-grey in tint, but 

 richly mottled with silvery-grey and golden lichens, and its 

 base is clothed with large patches of deep green moss of 

 velvet-like softness. This smooth surface of the beech 

 trunk has proved an irresistible temptation from the 

 beginning of Time for the wandering lover to carve thereon 

 the name of his beloved, or the wandering individual, free 

 from this pre-occupation, to place thereon his own. 



Ovid tells us how the faithless Paris, summoned from 

 tending his sheep on the slopes of Mount Ida to the 

 perilous task of adjudging the palm of beauty between 

 three rival Goddesses, is bribed by Venus to declare in 

 her favour by the promise that he shall have to wife the 

 fairest woman in the whole world. Captivated, infatuated, 

 in the presence of the glorious Helen he, alas ! utterly 

 forgets honour and the just claims of sweet CEnone, the 

 once well-beloved, and so she writes to her errant lover 

 an epistle of touching tenderness to recall to his mind 

 the happy days of old, reminding him that "the beeches 

 still preserve my name, and CEnone the work of your 



