THE WEEPING WILLOW. 39 



It is probable that the drooping trees acquired the 

 name of " weeping," by assuming the attitude of a person 

 in tears, who bends over and seems to droop. This is the 

 general attitude of affliction in allegorical representa- 

 tions. But this habit is far from giving them a melan- 

 choly expression, which is more generally the effect of 

 dark sombre foliage. Hence the yew seems to be a more 

 appropriate tree for burial-grounds, if it be desirable to 

 select one of a sombre appearance. The bending forms 

 of vegetation are universally attractive, by emblemizing 

 humility and other qualities that excite our sympathy. 

 All the drooping plants, herbs, trees, and shrubs are poeti- 

 cal, if not picturesque. Thus lilies, with less positive 

 beauty, are more interesting than tulips. 



A peculiar type of the drooping tree is seen in the 

 fir, whose lower branches bend downwards, almost without 

 a curve, from their junction with the stem of the tree. 

 This drooping is caused by the weight of the snow that 

 rests upon the firs during the winter in their native 

 northern regions. There is a variety of the beech, and 

 another of the ash, which has received the appellation 

 of weeping, from an entire inversion of the branches, both 

 large and small Such trees seem to me only a hideous 

 monstrosity, and I never behold them without some dis- 

 agreeable feelings, as when I look upon a deformed 

 animal. 



