Acanthus. 
(THE ARTS.) 
“ A woven acanthus wreath divine.” 
Tennyson. 
T HE Acanthus is a native of hot countries, and, being un¬ 
able to endure the variableness of this climate, is only 
permitted entrance into this floral bouquet on account of its 
classic and artistic associations. 
This elegant representative of the arts was a great favourite 
with the Greeks, who frequently made use of its graceful form 
for architectural and other ornamental purposes : as is well 
known, it makes the principal decoration of the Corinthian 
column ; the idea of which is reported by tradition—that un¬ 
wearied tattler—to have been suggested to Callimachus, a 
famous architect, by the accidental sight of a basket overgrown 
by acanthus with a tile on it. 
The story tells us that a basket containing some treasured 
relics, and covered with a tile, had been placed by mourning 
friends upon a young girl’s grave, as a kind of memento mori; 
an acanthus plant grew up beneath the basket, and its leaves 
spread all round, but, impeded by the tile, curled gracefully 
back. The architect, passing by the tomb, was attracted by 
the elegance of the untrained decoration, and, having some 
columns to design for an edifice in Corinth, imitated the form 
of the basket for the pillars, and formed the capitals in the 
manner of the curved acanthus. Thus, indeed, Vitruvius re¬ 
cords the legend. 
The discerning Greeks continually availed themselves of the 
“ woven acanthus wreath,” to adorn their buildings, their fur¬ 
niture, their ornaments, and even their clothes ; and in this 
they were subsequently imitated by their Roman conquerors. 
Theocritus, speaking of a pastoral prize cup, says, 
