190 FLORAL EMBLEMS. 



LAMENTATION. 



ASPEN TREE. Populus tremula. 



" Why tremble so broad aspen tree ? 



Why shake thy leaves, ne'er ceasing ? 

 At rest thou never seem'st to be, 



For when the air is still and clear, 

 Or when the nipping gale increasing, 



Shakes from thy boughs soft twilight's tear, 

 Thou tremblest still, broad aspen tree, 

 And never tranquil seem'st to be." 



Bigoted ignorance states that the cross was 

 made from this tree, since which time the 

 leaves have never known rest, and from hence 

 the emblem seems to have originated. 



" The night has been unruly where we lay ; 



And chimneys were blown down : and, as they say, 

 Lamentings heard i' th' air, strange screams of death." 



Shakspeare. 



