cypress
“let me be laid—In sad,”
TWELFTH NIGHT, ii. 4. 51.
Let me be laid in a coffin made of sad cypress-wood. Here some prefer understanding
cypress to mean “a
shroud of cypress or cyprus” (see the next article); but it is
at least certain that formerly coffins were frequently made of cypress-wood; and Douce
remarks that“the expression laid seems more applicable to a coffin than to a shroud, and also that the shroud is
afterwards expressly mentioned by itself.” (According to Fortiguerra, when
Astolfo died:
“non fu posto in una buca,
Ma con incenso, mirra, ed elisire
Fu imbalsamato, acciò si riconduca
Intero in Francia, e di nero cipresso
Fero una cassa, e sel portaro appresso.”
Ricciardetto, c. xix. st. 82. )
“non fu posto in una buca,
Ma con incenso, mirra, ed elisire
Fu imbalsamato, acciò si riconduca
Intero in Francia, e di nero cipresso
Fero una cassa, e sel portaro appresso.”
Ricciardetto, c. xix. st. 82. )
