80 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



mortals in old times, but we have, through 

 them dived into the secrets of their gods to 

 learn how the celestials regarded the proper- 

 ties of the ash ; and through their fables we 

 learn that Love first made his arrows of this 

 wood ; but afterwards he formed them only 

 of cypress. Of what materials the sly urchin 

 makes them at present, we must leave the 

 sighing Damon's and Phyllis's to find out, 

 and console ourselves that at the present time, 

 when mankind and beauty are so encreased 

 upon earth, that he does not make them of 

 ashen poles, whose showers would darken the 

 air, and render it unsafe to move about. We 

 shall give authorities to show, that Mars seiz- 

 ed the ashen poles to put into the hands of 

 his disciples, 



" A lance of tough ground-ash the Trojan threw, 

 Rough in the rind, and knotted as it grew." 



-ZEneis, Book ix. 



, Virgil also tells us, that the spears of the 

 Amazons were of this wood, and Homer 

 celebrates the mighty ashen spear of Achilles. 

 It has been surmised in modern times, that 

 when the son of Venus resigned the ash to 

 his father's use, it was on consideration that 

 his grandfather Jupiter should, in consequence 

 of his increased duties, allow him to disperse 



