LAUREL. 81 



Clusius, and we cannot well account for the 

 length of intervening time before they re- 

 ceived plants of the laurel. Clusius died in 

 April 1609 ; and, as Parkinson says, in 1629, 

 Cole's laurel had then " flowered divers times, 

 and borne ripe fruit also," he must have re- 

 ceived it early in the seventeenth century. 



Parkinson tells us, that he had procured 

 the laurel from Master Cole, and that he had 

 also received its seed from Italy, under the 

 title of Laurus regia, the " King's bay ;" but 

 it having no affinity with the bay, Bellonius 

 named it Laurocerasus, " and I should," says 

 Parkinson, " have placed it in my orchard 

 amongst the sorts of cherries ; but the beau- 

 tifulnesse of the plant caused me rather to 

 insert it here, in the Garden of Pleasant 

 Flowers." 



Evelyn says, that he was told by a noble 

 personage, that the laurel was first brought 

 to England by the Countess of Arundel, 

 wife to Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry, 

 to whom this country is indebted for the 

 Arundelian Marbles. 



In referring to the history of this ancient 

 family, we find that the Countess of Arundel 

 set out for Italy in 1614, for the purpose of 

 accompanying her two sons to England. It 

 is, therefore, probable that this evergreen 



