54 FAMILIAR TREES 
verdure, and arriving in time to emulate even some of 
our lusty timber-trees ; so as I dare pronounce it to 
be one of the most proper and ornamental trees for 
walks and avenues of any growing.” “The leaves,” he 
continues, “boiled in milk, impart a very grateful 
taste of the Almond ; and of the. berries, or cherries 
rather (which poultry generally feed on), is made a 
wine, to some not unpleasant... . and of the wood 
are said to-be made the best plough-handles.” 
He then relates, with speculations of his own as to 
the tree having come more probably “from some 
colder clime,” the not unlikely story that the Laurel 
was introduced “from Civita Vecchia in 1614, by 
the Countess of Arundel, wife to that illustrious 
patron of arts and antiquities, Thomas, Earl. of 
Arundel and Surrey.” The Countess certainly did 
return from Italy that year, which would be con- 
sistent with Parkinson’s possession of the shrub 
prior to 1629, and there. are still a number, of very 
old Laurels at Wardour Castle, the family seat. 
Ray, in 1688, in his “ Historia Plantarum,” speaks 
of the Laurel as being then very common in gardens 
and shrubberies, and remarkably hardy and quick in 
growth, braving our winters even in exposed situa- 
tions, but, on account of its thick and woody 
branches, not fitted for the close-clipt “ topiary- 
work,” then so much in fashion. We may, perhaps, 
attribute to the introduction of the Laurel, and the 
naturally rapid increase in the popularity of its 
bright foliage, the victory of a more natural and less 
formal style of gardening over the Dutch taste for 
mazes, alleys, peacocks, and teapots in Yew or Box. 
