THE COMMON OE CHEEKY LAUEEL. 



Pru'nus Lauroce'rasus L. 



Popular names and their suggestiveness of error 

 cannot be better illustrated than by a consideration 

 of the trees known as Laurels. The name is said to 

 be connected with the Latin word la us, " praise ' : ; 

 but the origin of the associations of the name is 

 Greek. Apollo, having slain the Python, the ancient 

 serpent formed from the slime left after Deucalion's 

 flood, fled for purification to the Laurel-groves of the 

 vale of Tempe. Here he became enamoured of the 

 nymph Daphne, the daughter of the river Peneus, and 

 on his pursuing her she took refuge in her paternal 

 stream, and was metamorphosed into a Laurel. Apollo, 

 returning to Delphi, instituted the Pythian games to 

 commemorate his victory, and the prizes there 

 awarded were chiefly crowns of the leaves and berries 

 of the shrub, which henceforth was looked upon as 

 sacred to the god the Laurea Delphica or Apol- 

 linaris. Apollo being the god of poetry, his emblem, 

 that of victory and clemency, became the favourite of 

 the poets, and hence of scholars generally, so that 

 successful graduates of universities or other learned 

 men became known as " laureates," or " baccalaurei," 

 from the berried crown. Such graduates, like the 

 fellows of colleges down to our own time, were not 

 allowed to marry, lest the duties of husband and 

 father should take them from their literary pursuits, 



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