238 SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



cum is of a blackish kind with which they make 

 tables *." 



Of these curious woods were made the famous tables 

 called Tigrin and Pantherine ; " not so named," says 

 Evelyn, " from being supported with figures carved like 

 those beasts, as some conceive, and was in use in our 

 grandfathers' days, but from the natural spots and ma- 

 culations. Such a table was that of Cicero's, which cost 

 him 10,000 sesterces ; such another had Asinius Gallus. 

 That of King Juba was sold for 15,000 ; and yet that 

 of the Mauritanian Ptolomee was far richer, containing 

 four feet and a half diameter, three inches thick, which 

 is reported to have been sold for its weight in gold. Of 

 that value they were, and so madly luxurious was the 

 age, that when the men at any time reproached their 

 wives for their wanton expensiveness in pearls, and other 

 rich trifles, they were wont to retort, and turn the tables 

 upon their husbands (.'" 



Dr. Hunter observes that from this circumstance, re- 

 lated by Pliny, the common expression of turning the 

 tables, appears to have been derived. 



This ancient extravagance in tables has been ridiculed 

 by many of the poets. 



The Great Maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, grows in 

 mountainous situations in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, 

 &c. With us, it is commonly known by the name of 

 sycomore or sycamore-tree ; it is also called the mock 

 plane-tree, and the wild fig-tree. In Scotland, they call 

 it simply plane-tree. We might call it mock-sycamore, 

 since the true sycamore is an Egyptian tree, the leaves 



* See Evelyn's Sylva. + Ibid. 



