ces,
branches of Bays or Palm in their hands.

_Henry VIII_, act iv, sc. 2.

To these passages may be added the following, in which the Palm tree is
certainly alluded to though it is not mentioned by name--

_Sebastian._

That in Arabia
There is one tree, the Phoenix' throne; one Phoenix
At this hour reigning there.

_Tempest_, act iii, sc. 3 (22).[193:1]

And from the poem by Shakespeare, published in Chester's "Love's
Martyr," 1601.

"Let the bird of loudest lay
On the sole Arabian tree
Herald sad and Trumpet be,
To whose sound chaste wings obey."

Two very distinct trees are named in these passages. In the last five
the reference is to the true Palm of Biblical and classical fame, as the
emblem of victory, and the typical representation of life and beauty in
the midst of barren waste and deserts. And we are not surprised at the
veneration in which the tree was held, when we consider either the
wonderful grace of the tree, or its many uses in its native countries,
so many, that Pliny says that the Orientals reckoned 360 uses to which
the Palm tree could be applied. Turner, in 1548, said: "I never saw any
perfit Date tree yet, but onely a little one that never came to
perfection;"[194:1] and whether Shakespeare ever saw a living Palm tree
is doubtful, but he may have done so. (_See_ DATE.) Now there are a
great number grown in the large houses of botanic and other gardens, the
Palm-house at Kew showing more and better specimens than can be seen in
any other collection in Europe: even the open garden can now boast of a
few species that will endure our winters without protection. Chamaerops
humilis and Fortunei seem to be perfectly hardy, and good specimens may
be seen in several gardens; Corypha australis is also said to be quite
hardy, and there is little doubt but that the Date Palm (_Phoenix
dactylifera_), which has long been naturalized in the South of Europe,
would live in Devonshire and Cornwall, and that of the thousand species
of Palms growing in so many different parts of the world, some will yet
be found that may grow well in the open air in England.

But the Palm tree in No. 1 is a totally different tree, and much as
Shakespeare has been laughed at for placing a Palm tree in the Forest of
Arden, the laugh is easily turned against those who raise such an
objection. Th