328 
Laurel. Bay. 
shown to his poetic chief, for he thus vindictively speaks of the 
cold nymph : 
“Proud Daphne, scorning Phoebus’ lovely fire, 
On the Thessalian shore from him did flee; 
For which the gods, in their revengeful ire, 
Did her transform into a laurel-tree.” 
The Abbe St. Pierre observes that the laurel grows in abun¬ 
dance on the banks of the river Peneus, in Thessaly, which 
might well give occasion to the fable of the metamorphosis of 
Daphne, the daughter of that river’s deity. 
Virgil celebrates the filial affection of this tree, remarking 
that the little Bay of Parnassus shelters itself under the great 
shade of its mother ; and Evelyn observes that, whilst young, 
this tree will not thrive well but under its mother’s shade, 
where nothing else will thrive. 
Petrarch never wearies of celebrating the praises of this tree, 
invariably associating it with the name of his beloved Laura ; 
and he acknowledged it to have been one of the greatest 
delights he ever experienced, when, as he was crowned with it 
at Rome, he thought how often he had connected its beauties 
with the name of his heart’s darling. 
Tasso also coupled this tree with his lady-love ; and the 
following lines are a prettily-rendered translation of a lyric he 
addressed to a laurel-leaf in her hair : 
“ O glad triumphal bough, 
That now adornest conquering chiefs, and now 
Clippest the brows of overruling kings: 
From victory to victory 
Thus climbing on, through all the heights of story, 
From worth to worth, and glory unto glory; 
To finish all, O gentle and royal tree, 
Thou reignest now upon that flourishing head, 
At whose triumphant eyes Love and our souls are led.” 
Our English poets have not omitted to render all due 
honours to this famous tree. Chaucer bestows the laurel upon 
the Knights of the Round Table, the Paladins of Charlemagne, 
and some other heroes of antiquity, 
“ That in their times did right worthily. 
***** 
For one lefe given of that noble tree 
To any wight that hath done worthily 
Is more honour than anything erthly.” 
