BEECH TREE. 



43 



They had a superstitious notion that with the words, 

 which increased in size with the growth of the tree, their 

 hopes would grow in proportion : 



" tenerisque meos incidere araores 



Arboribus ; crescent illae, crescetis amores." 



Virgil, Eclogiie x. 



" The rind of every plant her name shall know. 

 And as the rind extends the love shall grow." 



At length, a tender calm 



Hushed by degrees the tumult of her soul ; 



And on the spreading Beech, that o'er the stream 



Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen 



Of rural lovers this confession carved, 



Which soon her Damon kissed \vith weeping joy." 



Thomson. 



" Mentre Ergasto canto la pietosa canzone, Fronimo, 

 sopra tutti i pastori ingegnosissimo, la scrisse in una verde 

 corteccia di Faggio, e quella di moke ghirlande investita 

 appico ad un albero, che sopra la bianca sepoltura stende- 

 vasi rami suoi.'' — Arcadia di Sannazaro, Prosa 6. 



" While Ergasto sung this mournful song, Fronimo, 

 the most ingenious of all the shepherds, wrote it upon a 

 piece of green Beech-bark, and adorning it with garlands, 

 hung it upon a tree that stretched its boughs over the 

 white sepulchre.'' 



Not a Beech but bears some cipher. 



Tender word, or amorous text ; 

 If one vale sounds Angelina, 



Angelina sounds the next." 



Dox Luis de Gongora. 



The meanest of our peasantry would be ill pleased in 

 the present age to feed on Beech-nuts ; but formerly they 



