The Almond. 89 



and the Lebanon it ascends to the height above the sea 

 level of five thousand feet : it occurs also in Gilead and 

 in Moab. Whether truly wild in the north of Africa, and 

 even in Sicily, is uncertain. The nuts from cultivated 

 trees germinate, like those of the peach, with so much 

 readiness, that the last-named places may hold it only as 

 an ancient colonist. That it was known to the Greeks 

 is shown by the references in Theophrastus, in whose 

 writings we first meet with the name amygdalus ; and 

 that it was familiar in Italy in the time of the Romans is 

 proved by the frescoes found at Pompeii. Pliny speaks 

 of it with the delight at once of a naturalist and a poet 

 at heart, dwelling upon the spectacle of the early bloom 

 as one of the loveliest that trees afford. It was this same 

 circumstance the early bloom, decking every branch 

 with the most delicate pale rose-colour long before 

 the leaves expand that recommended the almond for 

 employment not only in the figurative language of Scrip- 

 ture, but in the classical myths and fables, as in the oft- 

 told tale of unhappy Phyllis. Phyllis, queen of Thrace, 

 gives welcome to Demophoon while on his way home 

 from the Trojan war. He remains at her court awhile ; 

 it is not difficult to guess what happens : when he goes, it 

 is with many promises to come back, sincerely spoken, 

 but not easy to keep : word is brought to her, in a 

 little while, untruly, that Demophoon is unfaithful : she 

 dies of grief; the gods, in pity, change her body into an 

 almond-tree : the prince returns, now for the first time to 

 learn what has happened j he embraces the tree, the 



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