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wind than those of almost any other tree, 

 would have none to contend with ; and the 

 expression is rara tegit umbra. The epithet 

 raris, as signifying loose, or separate, and con- 

 sequently letting in the light by intervals, is an 

 appropriate one to the separate clusters of the 

 vine, or to its long rambling young shoots, but 

 is very far from being so to the arbutus; it 

 would be only saying of it, what is generally 

 true of every shade produced by foliage alone, 

 namely, that it does not completely exclude 

 the light. The arbutus appears to have been 

 a favourite tree and a favourite shade among the 

 Romans: Ovid in describing a shady and se- 

 questered grove and fountain, has not forgot 

 it, or its shade, 



Silva nemus non alta facit, tegit arbutus herbam. 



Propertius likewise speaks of its beauty ; and 

 from the position, indicates its assistant shade. 



Surgat & in solis formosior arbutus antris. 



Horace speaks voluptuously of the pleasure of 

 being stretched under its canopy, 



Nunc viridi membra sub arbuto 

 Stratus. 



And when Virgil, in the passage that has given 

 rise to this discussion, together with the turf 

 and the fountain apostrophizes the arbutus 

 which protects them with its boughs, he pro- 



