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identify itself with a scene so vividly sketched. We do 
see the moon and the stars; we do hear the fountain, 
and mark the cypresses 
Cleave with their dark green cones the silent sky." 
The wood of this classical tree is sonorous, fragrant, 
and of the most imperishable nature; in the latter respect 
surpassing that of the cedar itself. If tradition were 
always worthy of credit, we should find that the Ark was 
made of its timber,—“ gopher wood, mentioned in holy 
writ, being no other than cupar, or cuper, by the easy 
mutation of letters.” Such is Evelyn’s belief. Besides 
the bridge of Semiramis, and the gates of the celebrated 
temple of Ephesus, which are reported to have been 
constructed of cypress wood, we have proofs somewhat 
nearer our own time of its wonderful durability ; for we 
learn that the doors of St. Peter’s, in Rome, which were 
made of it, were perfectly sound after the lapse of eleven 
hundred years, when, at the command of Eusebius the 
Fourth, they were superseded by gates of bronze. It 
shared, with the cedar, the honour of inclosing the 
bodies of the illustrious dead, when Egypt and Athens 
were in their glory, for in both countries it was applied 
to such purposes. It is curious to observe the different 
customs which obtain in different countries. In this 
