152 ACERINE^ 



good-fellowship, were often embossed on the metal rim on the cover ; or the 

 popular but mystic Saint Christopher, engraved on the bottom of the interior, 

 rose in all his giant proportions before the eyes of the wassailer, as he drained 

 the bowl, giving comfortable assurance that on that festive day, at least, no 

 harm could befal him." The latest poet who alludes to the mazers is Dry den, 

 in the seventeenth century ; but the Maple bowl was probabl}'- in use among 

 the humbler classes some years after. 



According to Evelyn, the knobs of old Maple-trees, variegated with tints 

 of dark and lighter brown, were collected at high prices in his day by the 

 lovers of works of art. They were, when strongly veined, much prized by 

 the Romans. " Of such," says Baxter, " were composed the celebrated 

 Tigrin and Pantherin tables, of which some particular specimens, as those of 

 Asinius, Gallus, King Juba, and the Mauritanian Ptolemy, are said to have 

 been worth their weight in gold." 



This species of Maple is not common in Scotland ; and Sir William 

 Hooker doubts if it is indigenous either in that country or Ireland ; but it 

 grows in woods and shrubberies there among the trees — 



" Some glossy-leaved and shining in the sun, 

 The Maple, and the beech of oily nuts 

 Prolific." 



2. Greater Maple, or Sycamore (^. psei'ulopldtanus). — Leaves 5-lobed, 

 unequally serrated ; clusters of flowers drooping ; wings of fruit slightly 

 diverging. Plant perennial. This tree is much larger and handsomer than 

 the Common Maple, but is not truly Avild, having been introduced into this 

 country about the fourteenth century. It grows, however, in hedges in 

 many parts of the kingdom, and is often planted near houses and in shrub- 

 beries, affording during summer a broad and pleasant shadow by its outspread, 

 leafy boughs. No tree is better adapted for plantations near the sea ; for 

 the bleak winds and salt spray, which stunt and deform so many trees, seem 

 favourable to this ; and however roughly the winds may blow, it is never 

 bent on one side, but preserves its upright and symmetrical form ; while 

 under its shelter smaller plants and shrubs will grow and thrive. The winds 

 of high hills also leave it unhurt ; and it is, therefore, often to be seen by 

 the door of the cottage or farmhouse standing in exposed situations ; while 

 on mountains at the north of Europe it is a common tree. It grows in 

 Norway by the seashore, is plentiful throughout Germany and Switzerland, 

 in the north of Poland and Lithuania, attaining, on a tolerable soil, a very 

 large size, and rapidly rising from a young shoot to a goodly tree. It is so 

 common in England that, though it is not truly wild. Bishop Mant enumerates 

 it among the trees which adorn the vales and groves of upland or lea. 



"The branching Sycamore, that veils Its produce in a transverse line, 



His golden shoots in dark-green scales, That step by step they all combine 



While still, as on the fabric goes. To frame, ))y constant interchange, 



Each pair to each succeeding shows Of cross-like forms a gradual range." 



Our old herbalists describe the leaves of this plant as " excellent good " 

 for the liver and the spleen, and the roots were considered to be, when 

 bruised, a valuable application for various pains. The sweet milky juice 



