92 



THE CYPRESS. 



This tree/' I replied^ is an evergreen ; 

 and^ I suppose, on this account^ and because of 

 the imperishable nature of the wood^ it has 

 been, in many nations, considered as an emblem 

 of immortality, and therefore commonly plant- 

 ed over the graves of the dead, and carried in 

 funereal processions. It is said to last as long 

 as stone itself ; and I have read that the doors 

 of St. Peter's Church, at Rome, which had been 

 formed of this material in the time of the Great 

 Constantine, were not at all injured by time, 

 when taken down, eleven hundred years after- 

 wards, by Pope Eugenius, to be replaced by 

 gates of brass. 



