pfarifl^ o^ tfte (Crucifixion. 47 



been the Aspen, and since that fatal day its leaves have never 

 ceased trembling with horror. 



" Far off in Highland wilds 'tis said 

 That of this tree the Cross was made." 



In some parts of England it is believed that the Jilder was the 

 unfortunate tree ; and woodmen will look carefully into the faggots 

 before using them for fuel, in case any of this wood should be 

 boimd up in them. The gipsies entertain the notion that the Cross 

 was made of Ash ; the Welsh that the Mountain Ash furnished the 

 wood. In the West of England there is a curious tradition that 

 the Cross was made of Mistlefoe, which, until the time of our 

 Saviour's death, had been a goodly forest tree, but was condemned 

 henceforth to become a mere parasite. 



Sir John Maundevile asserts that the Cross was made of Palm, 

 Cedar, Cypress, and Olive, and he gives the following curious 

 account of its manufacture : — " For that pece that wente upright 

 fro the erthe to the heved was of Cypresse ; and the pece that 

 wente overthwart to the wiche his bonds weren nayled was of 

 Palme ; and the stock that stode within the erthe, in the whiche was 

 made the morteys, was of Cedre ; and the table aboven his heved, 

 that was a fote and an half long, on the whiche the title was written, 

 in Ebreu, Grece, and Latyn, that was of Olyve. And the Jewes 

 maden the Cros of theise 4 manere of trees : for thei trowed that 

 oure Lord Jesu Crist scholde ban honged on the Cros als longe as 

 the Cros myghten laste. And therfore made thei the foot of the 

 Cros of Cedre : for Cedre may not in erthe ne in watre rote. And 

 therfore thei wolde that it scholde have lasted longe. For thei 

 trowed that the body of Crist scholde have stonken ; therfore thei 

 made that pece that went from the erthe upward, of Cypres : for it 

 is welle smellynge, so that the smelle of His body scholde not greve 

 men that wenten forby. And the overthwart pece was of Palme : 

 for in the Olde Testament it was ordyned that whan onovercomen, 

 He scholde be crowned with Palme. And the table of the tytle 

 thei maden of Olyve ; for Olyve betokenethe pes. And the storye 

 of Noe wytnessethe whan that the culver broughte the braunche of 

 Olyve, that betokend pes made betwene God and man. And so 

 trowed the Jewes for to have pes whan Crist was ded : for thei 

 seyd that He made discord and strif amonges hem." 



pPaaf)^ of tKe (^ruclfi^ior^. 



In Brittany the Vervain is known as the Herb of the Cross. 

 John White, writing in 1624, says of it — 



" Hallow'd be thou Vervain, as thou growest in the ground, 

 For in the Mount of Calvary thou first was found. 

 Thou healedst our Saviour Jesus Christ 

 And staunchedst His bleeding wound. 

 In the name of leather, Son, and Holy Ghost, I take thee from the ground." 



