84 
DURABILITY. 
CORNELIAN CHERRY TREE. 
A huntress issuing from the wood, 
Reclining on her cornel spear she stood. 
DB.YDEN. 
The cornel tree does not grow higher than 
eighteen or twenty feet. It lives for ages, but 
grows very slowly ; it blooms in the spring, 
and yields its crimson berries in the winter. 
They are a very handsome fruit, and were 
formerly made into tarts and robs de cornis. 
The Greeks have consecrated this tree to 
Apollo, because it is supposed that that god 
presides over the works of the mind, which 
demand much time and reflection. Charming 
emblem ! teaching every one who wishes to 
cultivate letters, eloquence, and poetry, that 
to merit the laurel crown, it is necessary to 
bear for a long time that of patience and me¬ 
ditation. After Romulus had drawn the plan 
of Rome on the land which gave him birth, 
he launched his javelin on Mount Palatine; 
the shaft of the javelin is said to have been of 
cornel tree ; it took root, grew, and became 
an immense tree; and this prodigy was re¬ 
garded as the happy presage of the strength 
and duration of that extraordinary empire. 
The wood is very hard, and Evelyn says that 
when made into wedges it will last like iron. 
