LAUREL. BAT. 
151 
of laurel crowns; its leaves were deemed very effica¬ 
cious in the prevention of illness, and its shelter was 
believed to ward off lightning. 
This presumed power is alluded to in the device of 
the Count do Dunois, which Madame de Genlis men¬ 
tions as being a bay-tree, with the motto, “I defend 
the earth that bears me ; ’ and Leigh Hunt, in his 
“Descent of Liberty,’’ thus adverts to the belief : 
“Long have you my laurels worn, 
And though some under-leaves be torn 
Here and there, yet what remains 
Still its pointed green retains, 
And still an easy shade supplies 
To your calm-kept watchful eyes. 
Only, would you keep it brightening, 
And its power to shake the lightning 
Harmless down its glossy ears, 
Suffer not so many years • 
To try what they can bend and spoil.’* 
The laurel bears the classic appellation of Daphne, 
because of the ancient legend connecting it with the 
nymph of that name, who, according to Ovid, was 
daughter of the river-god Peneus. Apollo beheld her, 
and at once became enamored of her beauty; but 
Daphne fled from his importunities, and, fearful of 
being caught, called to Diana for assistance: she 
answered her prayers by transforming her into the 
laurel. Apollo, finding that he held nothing but a hard 
tiee in his embrace, saluted its vivid green leaves with 
kisses, crowned his head with its leaves, and ordained 
that ever after that tree should be sacred to his god¬ 
head. Ovid thus recounts this fact: 
“ I espouse thee for my tree : 
Be thou the prize of hor.or and renown ; 
The deathless poet and the poem crown. 
