LAUREL. 29 



leaf something resembled the ancient laurus 

 or bay, it was supposed to be a species of 

 that plant ; and as the fruit bears resemblance 

 to our small black cherry, it was called the 

 Bay cherry, and Laurocerasus, Laurel cherry. 



As it now seldom has any name added to 

 that of laurel, many persons mistake this 

 shrub for the laurel so celebrated of old for 

 crowning both the victor and the poet ; and 

 this error is more frequent, from our having 

 changed the name of the laurus into bay. 



The common laurel was first made known 

 to this part of the world by His Excellency 

 David Ungnad, who, whilst ambassador 

 from the Emperor of Germany at Constan- 

 tinople, sent, in the year 1 576, a collection 

 of rare shrubs and trees to Clusius, the cele- 

 brated botanist, at Vienna ; but owing to 

 the severity of the weather whilst on their 

 journey, and the carelessness of those who 

 brought them, they all perished, excepting 

 the horse-chesnut and the laurel, and Clusius 

 relates that the latter was almost dead whfcn 

 it arrived. He put it into a stove in the 

 same state as it arrived, and in the same tub 

 of earth. The following spring he took it 

 out, cut off the dead and withered branches, 

 and set it in a shady place. In the autumn it 

 began to shoot from the root ; and lie then 



