pPant bore, bege?^/, ani. bLjric/. 497 



«' the place planted with Pines." In a Pompeian design, we find 



a rural Cupid with a crown of Pine. Ovid crowns the Fauns with 

 Pine. Virgil calls the Pine Pyonuba, because the torches used at 



weddings were made of Pine-wood. In the hymn of Callimachus 



to Diana, virgins are represented as wearing chaplets of Pine. 



The Pine-cone unopened symbolised virginity. In Podolia, 



in Little Russia, the bride-cake is ornamented with sprigs of 



Pine. In Japan, the Pine has become a symbol of constancy 



and conjugal fidelity, because it is always verdant, even beneath 



the snow.- The Pine is a funereal tree, and, as is the case with 



all others of its class, it symbolises immortality and generation. 

 Like the Cypress and the Fir, on account of the durability of its 

 wood and its evergreen foliage, it represents the perpetuity of life, — 

 a symbol that appears singularly in keeping with the funereal 

 rites of a people who believed in the immortality of the soul. 



In Russia, when the coffin is being carried to the cemetery, it 



is covered with branches of Pine or Fir. The Fijian believes 



that, after death, the spirit, with his war-club and a whale's tooth, 

 journeys to the world's end : there grows the sacred Pine, and at 

 it the spirit hurls his whale's tooth. If he strikes it, he proceeds 

 on his way rejoicing, but if he misses his mark, his further progress 



is stopped. Crowns of Pine were worn by vidlors at the Isthmian 



games. The Pine was one of the trees ordered to be used by 



the Jews in erecfting their tents at the Feast of the Tabernacles. 

 According to tradition, the Pine seen in a dream portends dis- 

 solution. 



PINK. — The Pink (Dianthus) has been said to derive its name 

 from the Dutch word Pinkster — Whitsuntide — the season at which 

 a species called of old the Whitsuntide Gilliflower, is in flower. In 

 Bologna, however, the flower is held sacred to St. Peter, who is 

 believed to have been partial to it above all others; the 29th of 



June is there considered to be the day of Pinks. In an old 



work quoted by Alphonse Karr, the author recommends the water 

 distilled from Pinks as an excellent remedy against epilepsy, and 

 adds: "but if a conserve be composed of it, it is the life and 

 delight of the human race." A vinegar made of Pinks was 

 formerly prized for its efficacy against the plague. 



Pixie-stool. — See Toadstool. 



PLANE. — The Plane-tree {Platanns ovientalis) was specially 

 venerated in Greece. In the school of Plato, the philosophers used 

 to walk and converse under the shadow of these delightful trees. 



Pausanias mentions a Plane tree of extraordinary size and beauty 



in Arcadia, supposed to have been planted by Menelaus thirteen 



hundred years before. The Plane was held sacred to Helen, the 



wife of Menelaus. Evelyn gives an account of the passion con- 

 ceived by Xerxes for a Plane-tree. Whilst marching through Lydia, 

 he is said to have stopped his vast army of 1,700,000 soldiers, that 



2 K 



