FIR TREE. 147 



Virgil, speaking of different soils, says 



(t ^1 sceleratum exquirere frigus 



Difficile est ; piceae tantuin, taxique nocentes 

 Interdum, aut hederie pandunt vestigia nigrse." 



It is hard to discover the pernicious cold ; only Fir trees, and 

 yews, and black ivy sometimes will indicate it. 



Fawkes uses an epithet peculiarly applicable to its 

 growth : 



" Here spiry firs extend their lengthened ranks ; 

 There violets blossom on the sunny banks." 



Bramham Park. 



Fairfax terms it the " Weeping Fir ;" in allusion to 

 the turpentine that flows from it when wounded : Spenser 

 also speaks of it as 



" The fir that weepeth still." 

 W. Browne calls it 



" The firre that oftentimes doth rosin drop." 



The following evidently alludes to its use in ship- 

 building : 



" Th' adventurous fir that sails the vast profound." 



HABTE'S Statius, b. 6. 



Drayton speaks of it as the tree of Mars : 



" Fair Venus' myrtle, Mars his warlike fir, 

 Minerva's olive, and the weeping myrrh." 



Mr. Keats, with that poetic power which expresses 

 much in a few words, describes to us the constant occu- 

 pation of the Fir tree in the fruit season : 



Fir trees grow around, 



Aye dropping their hard fruit upon the ground." 



1.2 



