232 REMARKS ON THE LIME, OR LINDEN TREE. 



years ; and there is a similar one in the library at Vienna, which 

 contains a work of Cicero, De Ordinanda Republican et de inveni- 

 endis Orationum exordiis. It was formerly amongst the varieties of 

 Cardinal Mazarine, and which the Count of St. Amant, then governor 

 of Arras (1662), procured for the emperor at the price of 8000 

 ducats, which, if silver ducats, would amount to 1800/., and if gold, 

 3800/. 



Pliny tells us that, in ancient times, fillets or ribands for chaplets 

 were also made of the inner bark of the linden, and which it was 

 esteemed a great honour to wear. The Romans also made cords and 

 ropes from the thready substance which is found between the wood 

 and the inner bark of this tree. The Roman cooks sliced the inner 

 bark of the linden to boil with meats that were over salted, as it was 

 found to make them perfectly fresh. 



Of the ancient use of the timber of this tree, we learn from Virgil, 

 who says : — 



" Of beech the plough-tail, and the bending yoke, 



Or softer linden, harden'd in the smoke." 



Geor. i. 



It is from the wood of the linden tree, principally, that the incom- 

 parable carvings of Gibbons were formed, which, for lightness and 

 elegance of design, have never been equalled in modern times, and 

 perhaps not surpassed by the chisels of the ancients, as those beautiful 

 festoons of fruits and flowers in Her Majesty's castle at Windsor, and 

 those which ornament one of the noble apartments of the Earl of 

 Egremont's mansion at Petworth, will evince, as well as those which 

 decorate the choir of St. Paul's and other churches, and noble resi- 

 dences, both in London and in the country. 



Architects make their models of this wood, and the carvers prefer 

 it on account of its delicate colour, close grain, easy working, and for 

 its not being liable to split. That it is not subject to worms must be 

 satisfactorily proved by the preservation in which we now see the 

 works of Gibbons, that have been exposed since the time of Charles 

 the Second. It is also remarked by Pliny, that the worm never 

 injured this timber. Evelyn tells us that this wood is preferable to 

 the willow, being stronger yet lighter. We presume that it was from 

 the strong recommendation of this tree in the Sylva, that it came so 

 much into use in the latter lime of that author, as about that time it 



