THE POPLAR. 97 



it, reflecting the graceful branches of the Poplar in 

 its waters, forms an interesting picture, well calcu- 

 lated to attract the attention of the traveller, as he 

 enters the town, by the road from Norwich. 



The height of this tree is ninety feet, and its cir- 

 cumference, at a yard from the ground, fifteen ; the 

 trunk rises forty-five feet, with but little diminution 

 in size, when it divides into a profusion of luxuriant 

 branches : its solid contents are five hundred and 

 fifty-one feet. 



The Poplar may be regarded in every respect as 

 a classical tree. It was held sacred to Hercules by 

 the ancients ; and is celebrated by Homer, Virgil, 

 and Ovid. The latter speaks of the transformation 

 of the sisters of Phaeton into Poplars ; and the fic- 

 tion seems to wear almost the appearance of reality, 

 from the number of those trees that still flourish on 

 the banks of the Po in Italy, in the vicinity of the 

 ancient Eridanus, into which the ambitious cha- 

 rioteer is said to have been precipitated by Jupiter. 

 The Poplar, like other trees of the aquatic tribe, 

 copiously exudes the moisture which it imbibes ; 

 insomuch that, in hot calm weather, its foliage, 

 like that of the Willow, is additionally grate- 

 ful from the drops of water that hang upon its 

 leaves, with the refreshing coolness of a summer 

 shower ; and which, to a poetical imagination, like 

 that of Ovid, affords a lively picture of the tears of 

 Phaeton's sisters for his loss, completing the beauty 

 of the story which relates their metamorphosis. 



