the Cypress of Mistra. 699 



least for the last five and thirty years. It is of the variety C. 

 sempervirens horizontals ; the lateral branches stretching out 

 in every direction, to a great extent. 



I am, fortunately, enabled to send you a drawing of this most 

 interesting production {Jig. 176., reduced one half], from a 

 sketch recently taken on the spot ; and which, I hope, will serve 

 to give you some notion of its extraordinary beauty and gran- 

 deur. 



Haddo House, Oct. 4. 1839. 



The Cypress of Somma, referred to by the Earl of Aberdeen, 

 was described, and its legendary history given, in the historical 

 part of our Arb. Brit., p. 169., in an extract from an account 

 given of it by the Abbe Berleze, in a journal of a tour he made 

 in 1832 through part of Italy, published in the Annates de la 

 Societe d' Horticulture, vol. xii. p. 76. In that tour the abbe 

 gives the dimensions stated ; but as, of course, he meant French 

 feet, the dimensions would be about 21 ft. 8 in. English in cir- 

 cumference, and 75 ft. 10 in. high. The abbe states that it 

 appears that an accident had deprived the tree of its leading 

 shoot, which had altered its general form. With respect to its 

 age, he says, a popular tradition exists that it is as old as the 

 birth of Christ, and hence the tree is held in great veneration 

 by the people of the country. The abbe's brother, however, 

 M. Louis Berleze, assured him, on the authority of an ancient 

 Chronicle of Milan, that that tree existed in the time of Julius 

 Caesar, 42 years B. C. 



In the spring of 1837 we received from Signor Manetti of 

 Monza a drawing of this cypress, from which fig. 177. (pu- 

 blished in our Arb. Brit.) is taken, together with a letter from 

 which the following is an extract : — 



" We have no certain knowledge as to when or by whom 

 the Cypress of Somma was planted. As a proof of this I may 

 quote the following passage from the work of Francis Campana, 

 called Monumenta Soma;, p. 33. line 4. — ' Concerning this cy- 

 press nothing is known. Every one who has seen its immense 

 size says that nothing more lofty or sublime could be witnessed. 

 Was it planted in the age of the Romans, near the ashes of 

 some patrician ? Or is it not older than the age of the Romans 

 themselves ? This must be decided by those acquainted with the 

 nature of the cypress, and who are able to measure it.' 



" The fact is, that we have neither scientific nor vulgar traditions 

 which treat in a satisfactory manner of this living monument. 

 It is 121 ft. in height ; and its circumference, at 1 ft. from the 

 ground, is 22 ft. At the height of 19 ft. from the ground, the 

 stem is divided into six large branches, which has given rise to 

 the supposition by some that it is not one plant only, but rather 



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