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Show 236 A Difcourfe of Foreft- Trees. L.1%.ce44- Arik, LLEps1Os Vide Sym- Chap. XXXV. As our excellent Poet hasdefcrib’d it : and among{t other weighty matters they treated of Afatches for their children, and the Young people made Lovein the cooler Shades, and ingravd their Miftris’s Names upon the Bark, titul ereis liters infeulpti as Pliny fpeaks of that Antient Vatican Ilex , andEuripidesin Hippolyto , where he fhews us how they made the incifion, whifper their foft Complaints likethat of Arifienctus Tela debe d KrAga, &c. and with that it had but a Soul anda Voyce to tell Cydippe, the fair Cydippe, howfhe was belov’d : And doubtlefle this Charadfer was Antienter than that in Paper; let us hear the Amorous Poet leaving his young Couple thus Courting each other, Myname onn Bark engraven by Ocnon e, there, cut by your knife your fair hand, does ftand; And with the Stock my Name alike do’s grow, Be’t fo, and my advancing honour fhow. Incifa fervant ate mea nomina fagi Et Legor Oenone falce notata tha, Et quantumtrunci, tantum mea nominacre[cunts Crefcite, Sin titulos furgite rite meos, Ovid, Epe which doubtleffe he learnt of Auro defcribing the unfortunate Gallas. i¢ tender bark to carve my Love; grow, fofhall my. hopes ithprove. Ogilby. ~——— teneri(que meos imcidere amores Arbovibus; Crefcentilla, cre{cetis amores. Eclog-10. and thefe pretty Monuments of CourthhipI find were much ufed on the Cherry-tree (the Wild one 1 fuppofe) which has a very {mooth Rind, asthe witty Calfurnius, eat, thy words on Cherry-bark I'll take, d that re d skin my Table-book will make. Dic age, nam Cevafitna cortice verba notabo Ex decifa feramrutilanti carmina libros lomit Olywpius Nemefianws , and others, for we have dwelt too long on thistrifle, but we will now change the Scexe as the 4- gyptians did the mirth oftheir Gueffs when theyferv'd ina Seal to make them more ferious. For, 13. Amongft other Ufes of Groves , Tread that fome Nations were wont to hang, not Malefactors onely, but their departed Friends, and thofe whomthey moft efteemed upon Trees , as fo much nearer to Heavew, and dedicated to God ; believing it far more honourable than to be buried in the Earth; and that fome affected to repofe rather in thefe Woodyplaces Propertivs feems to befpeak. The Gods fi Should lye, Th wrbid my Bonesin the hi e Qua facit aff iff frequenté ty lens iter, Chap. XXX V, A Difcourfe of Forett.Trees; 10. 12. when the valiant mén of Fabefh j ; Saul and Fonathan under the Oke, pee alee as Cameterie where Daiphon lay 3 Ariadnes Tomb was in ed it thufian Grove in Crete, now Candie : For theybelieved th she Spirits and Ghoffs of Men delighted to expati ate and a - ne fuch folemn places, as the Learned Groti# s notes from Thephyl, Z, fear of ae eae upon JZat.8 20, for which cee ae ogave Pe eee permifi a ion, that e ee Trees might mi be Plante d over Graves, to Our Blefled Saviour chofe the Garde n fometimes for his Oratory , and dying, for the place ofhis Sepulchre ; and we do avouchfor many weightycaufes; that there are ae morefit t bury our Dead in; than in our Gardens and Groves, where oak Beds may be decked with verdant and fragra nt Flomirs Trees d Perennial Plants, the moft natural and inftruétive Hierogl phies of our expected Refirredion and Immortality , befide s ak the might conduce to the Meditation of the fivix and the taki : off our Cogitations from dwelling too intent ly ‘tpon more ie and fenfual Objects; that Cuffom of Burying in Churches, and near about them efpecially in great and populo us Cities ) being both a Novel Prefumption, undecent 5 and vety unhealthul. 14-To makethisDicourfé the more abfolute,we thall add a fhort recital of the moft famous Groves which wefind Celebr ated in Hefrories 5 and thofe, befides many already mention’d, were fuch as being Confecrated both to Gods and Men, bore their Name s: Ae mongft thefe are reckoned the Sacred to Minerva,lfis, Latona Cybele, Ofiris,Efculapins, Diana, and efpecially the Aricinian,in which there was a goodly Temple erected, placed in the midft of an Zland, with a vatt Lake about it, a Afount, and a Grotto adorn’ d with Statues, and irrigated withplentiful Streams: and this was that renouned Recefle of Numa, where he fo frequently converfed with his Zgeria, as did Adinos in the Cavé of Fupiter , and by whofe pretended [nfpirations they gain’d the deceived Peopl e and made them receive what Lawes he pleas’d to impofe upon komm To thefe we may joyn, the Groves of Vulcan, Venus, and the little Cupid : Mars, Bellona, Bacchus, Sylvanus , the Mufes, and that neer Helicon from the fame Numa, their great Patron : ‘and hence had they their Name Camene. In this was the noble Statue of Expheme Nurfe to thofe Poetical Ladies; but fo the Feranian and even Aéons Parnas, were thick thaded with Trees. Nor may we omit the more impure Lupercal Groves Sacred » or Prophan’d rather, yet moft famous for their affording fhelter and fofter to Romulus, and his Brother Rhemys, Po mortem tamuli fic infamantur amantam, Me tegat arborea devia terra comite The fameis affirmed of other Septentrional People bychr.cilicus de Bello Dithmarficol. 1. We havealread ymention’d Rebeccah » and read of Kizgs themfelves that honoured fuch places with theirs epulchres : What elfe fhould be the meaning of 1 Chro. 10+ That of Vulcan was ufually guarded by Dogs, like the Town of S. Malosin Bretaigne: The Pinea Sylva appertain’d tothe Aother of the Gods, as we find in Virgil. Venus had feveral Groves In Zgypt , and inthe Gridian Iland, where once ftood thofe fa- Mous Statues cut by Praxiteles; another in Pontus , where (if you'll li |
