( 60 ) 



great repute. Pliny * fpeaks as highly of the 

 knobs, and excrefcences of this treee, called the 

 brufca and mollufca, as Dr. Plot does of thofe 

 of the afh -j~. The veins of thefe excrefcences 

 in the maple, Pliny tells us, were fo variegated, 

 that they exceeded the beauty of any other 

 wood ; even of the citron : though the citron 

 was in fuch repute at Rome, that Cicero, who 

 was neither rich nor expenfive, was tempted to 

 give ten thoufand fefterces for a citron table. 

 The brufca and mollufca, Pliny adds, were 

 rarely of fize fufficient for the larger fpecies of 

 furniture 5 but in all fmaller cabinet-work they 

 were ineftimable. Indeed the whole tree was 

 efteemed by the ancients, on account of its 

 variegated wood. In Ovid we find it thus 

 celebrated : 



acerque coloribus impar . 



How far at this day, it may be valued for 

 cabinet-work, I know not. I have, here and 

 there, feen boxes, and other little things made 

 of it, which I have thought beautiful. But I 



* See Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. xvi. ch. 16. 

 i f See page 35 : fee alfo Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. xiii. ch. 15. 

 % Met. lib. x. v, i, 



am 



