178 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



of great festivals held in this German city, dances 

 were held under its shelter. Its branches then cov- 

 ered the entire court-yard in which it stands. On the 

 day on which Albrecht Durer's father took up his res- 

 idence in the ancient town, in the year 1445, the pa- 

 trician, Philip Pirkleimer, celebrated his wedding un- 

 der this linden-tree. Four statues surround the tree 

 now, representing four ancient emperors of Germany. 



There is nothing remarkable from a botanical 

 point of view, about the favorite tree of the poet Al- 

 exander Pope, near Binfield. It is a poor beach al- 

 most bare of leaves and branches, withered, and weak 

 with age, and half destroyed by lightning. 



Yet, in approaching it, a feeling of respect stirs 

 our whole being. What a mysterious power there 

 dwells in our association of ideas, which draw even 

 inanimate things within the circle of our sympathies, 

 and admit them, as it were, to the number of our 

 friends. 



Seven miles from "Windsor stands the tree to 

 which Pope came in his youth, to dream away the 

 hours, and to receive his first impressions of the outer 

 world. Its bark is covered with inscriptions in honor 

 of the poet, and all around, on trees and stones, are 

 engraved extracts from his principal works. 



In the English Park which surrounds the Italian 

 Villa of Feuillancourt stands a gigantic poplar, which 



