20 LANGUAGE AND 
ACANTHUS. 
THE ARTS. 
“ A woven acanthus wreath divine.” 
Tennyson. 
The Acanthus is a native of hot countries, 
and, being unable 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 favorite 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 unwearied tattler—to have 
been suggested to Callimachus, a famous archi¬ 
tect, by the accidental sight of a basket over¬ 
grown 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 ele¬ 
gance of the untrained decoration, and, having 
