198 A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. much more perspicuous and ample by the appHcation of a good 

 ^^'^T^ microscope* But above all, notable for these extravagant damaskings 



• Not in- _ _ _ o <3 



vented in Pa- 



and characters, is the Maple; and it is notorious that this tree is very full 

 lissy'sdays. of brauches from the root to its very summit, by reason that it produces 

 no considerable fruit : These arms being frequently cut, the head is more 

 surcharged with them, which spreading like so many rays from a centre, 

 form that hollowness at the top of the stem whence they shoot, capable 

 of containing a good quantity of water every time it rains ; this sinking 

 into the pores, as was before hinted, is compelled to divert its course, 

 as it passes through the body of the tree, wherever it encounters the 

 knot of any of these branches which were cut off from the stem ; 

 because their roots not only deeply penetrate towards the heart, but are 

 likewise of themselves very hard and impervious; and the frequent 

 obliquity of this course of the subsiding moisture, by reason of these 

 obstructions, is, as may be conceived, the cause of those curious works 

 which we find remarkable in this and other woods, whose branches 

 grow thick from the stem. JBut for these curious contextures^ consult 

 rather the learned Dr. Grew. We have showed how by culture, and 

 stripping up, it arrives to a goodly tree ; and surely there were some 

 of them of large bulk, and noble shade, that Virgil should choose it for 

 the court of his Evander (one of his worthiest Princes, in his best 

 of Poems) sitting on his Maple-throne;' and when he brings .^neas 

 into the royal cottage, he makes him this memorable comphment : 

 " Greater," says great Cowley, " than ever was yet spoken at the 

 Escurial, the Louvre, or Whitehall :" 



■ Haec, in quit, limina victor 



Alcides subiit ; haec Ulum regia cepit. 



Aude, hospes, contemnere opes, et te quoque dignum 



Finge Deo, rebusque veni non asper egenis. 



This humble roof, this rustic court, said he, 

 Receiv'd Alcides crown'd with victory : 

 Scorn not, great guest, the steps where he has trod. 

 But contemn wealth, and imitate a god. 



Solioque invitat acerno. ^neid viii. 1.178. 



