OF FOREST-TREES. 



339 



consult of their gravest matters and public concernments in groves. BOOK 

 Famous for these assemblies were the Ceraunian, and at Rome the Lucus 

 Petilinus, the Farentinus, and others, in which there was held that re- 

 nowned parliament after the defeat of the Gauls by M. Popilius ; for it 

 was supposed that in places so sacred they would faithfully and reli- 

 giously observe what was concluded amongst them : 



In such green palaces the first kings reign'd. 

 Slept in their shades, and angels entertain'd : 

 With such old counsellors they did advise. 

 And by frequenting sacred groves grew wise. 

 Free from th' impediments of light and noise, 



Man thus retir'd, his nobler thoughts employs. waller. 



as our excellent poet has described it. And, amongst other weighty 

 matters, they treated of matches for their children, and the young people 

 made love in the cooler shades, and engraved their mistresses' names upon 

 the bark, Tituli cereis Uteris insculpti, as Pliny speaks of that ancient 

 Vatican Ilex : and Euripides, in Hippolyto, shews us how they made 

 the incision whisper their soft complaints like that of Aristeenetus, 

 ToTa ^} ii^s (o §iv§pa, &c. and wish that it had but a soul and voice to tell 

 Cydippe, the fair Cydippe, how she was beloved : and, doubtless, this 

 character was ancienter than that on paper. Let us hear the amorous 

 poet leaving his young couple thus courting each other : 



Incisae servant a te mea nomina Fagi : 



Et legor Oenone falce notata tua. 

 Et quantum trunci, tantum mea nomina crescunt : 



Crescite, et in titulos surgite recta meos. ovid. Ep. 



Each Beech my name yet bears, carv'd out by thee, 

 ' Paris and his Oenone fill each tree ; 



And as they grew, the letters larger spread j 



Grow still a living witness of ray wrongs when dead. 



which doubtless, he learnt of Maro, describing the unfortunate Gallus: 



Tenerisque meos incidere amores 



Arboribus : crescent illae, crescetis amores. eclog. x. 



There on the tender bark to carve my love ; 

 And as they grow, so may my hopes improve. 



And these pretty monuments of courtship, I find, were much used on 



