968 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



M ft, to 90ft. high, with clear trunks of from 30ft. to 40ft.; and from 8 ft. 

 to 14ft, in circumference at 4 ft. from the ground. We saw some of these 

 magnificent trees in 1S31, and can bear testimony to the amplitude of their 

 dimensions, ami to their being apparently in good health; though, we believe, 

 some of those alluded to by Mitchell have been cut down since his time. 



Pvetiod and legendary Allusions, The poetical allusions to the beech, 

 among the Latin poets, are very numerous : Virgil frequently mentions it, 

 several instances or which have been quoted in p. 1956.; but, among the most 

 celebrated, are the well-known lines, — 



" Tityre, tu, patulre recubans sub togmine fagi, 



Sylvestrem tenui musam meditaris avena.". 

 " Beneatli the shade which beechen boughs diffuse, 



You, Tityrus, entertain your sylvan Muse." Dryden's Virgil. 



And the following : — 



" Or shall I rather the sad verse repeat 



Which on the beech's bark I lately writ ?" Dryden's Virgil. 



In the third Eclogue, Virgil makes his shepherds boast of their beechen bowls. 



Tibnllus says, — 



" No wars did men molest, 



When only beechen bowls were in request." 



In more modern times, we may quote the well-known lines from Tasso's 



Gerusalennnc Libera fa : — 



" Nella scorza de' faggi e degli allori 



Segno P amato nome in mille guise." 

 " On the smooth beechen rind the pensive dame 



Carves in a thousand forms her Tancred's name.'' Hoole's Tasso. 



liarcilasso, the Spanish poet, has several allusions to this tree : — 



" Under the branches of the beech we flung 



Our limbs at ease, and our bent bows unstrung. 



Thus idly lying, we inspired with zest 



The sweet fresh spirit breathing from the west." Wiffen's Garcilasso. 

 •' The sun, from rosy billows risen, had ray'd 



With gold the mountain tops, when at the foot 



Of a tall beech romantic, whose green shade 

 Fell on a brook, that, sweet- voiced as a lute, 



Through lively pastures wound its sparkling way, 



Sad on the daisied turf Salicio lay." Ibid. 



" Not a beech but bears some cipher, 

 Tender word, or amorous text : 

 If one vale sounds Angelina, 

 Angelina sounds the next." Don Luis de Gongora. 



Among the English poets, we may find numerous allusions to, and descrip- 

 tions of, the beech ; and of these we shall give a few. Milton says, — 



" In beechen goblets let their bev'ragc shine, 

 Cool from the crystal spring their sober wine." 



Beaumont and Fletcher, in the Faithful Shepherdess, allude to Pan, — 



" That sleeping lies in a deep glade, 

 Under a broad beech's shade." 



Leigh Hunt, in a translation from Theocritus, says, — 



" I ran to meet yon, as the traveller 



Gfetl from the hum under a shady beech." 



The most generally quoted lines In English, on the beech tree, are, however, 

 those of way, Campbell, and Wordsworth, all of which we shall give below. 



I I . says, — 



" There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, 



I li.it wreathe-, its old fantastic roots ho high, 



Hid listu-Hs length at noontide he would stretch, 



And pore UpOH the brook that bubbled by." Okay. 



Campbell's lines are entitled " The lieeeh Tree's Petition :" — 



