Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/297

Rh of the nave, and enclosed with gratings an upper gallery, which must have been beautiful, in order to make accom modation for the nuns of the adjoining Benedictine monastery to hear, unseen, the services. Still, especially in the tribune at the east end of the church, some interesting relics of the old 9th century church may yet be seen there. The curious mosaics representing St Cecilia, and the other saints to whom Pope Paschal dedicated the church, belong to that period. The church of St Cecilia is situated at the further end of that part of the city called Trastevere, near the quay of the Kipa Grande, a region which tradition declares to have been the earlier &quot;Foro degli Ebrei,&quot; or quarters assigned to the Jews, a &quot; ghetto,&quot; as the part of the city so destined was subsequently called. Here it is said that St Peter, as a Hebrew, was lodged on his first arrival in Rome, and hence began to preach the gospel. This church has from its first foundation given his &quot; title &quot; to a cardinal priest. For many generations it was the custom for the popes, accompanied by all their cardinals, to celebrate a &quot; Capella papale &quot; here on certain days in the year. And down to the present time, on the 22d of November in each year, the best church music still to be met with in Rome (which is not, however, saying much) may be heard in the church of St Cecilia.  CECROPS, probably a Pelasgian hero, was, according to Athenian tradition, the first king of Attica, and the founder of its political life. He was said to have divided Attica into twelve parts, to have instituted marriage, and introduced a new form of worship. Some late Greek writers held that he came from Egypt. He is represented as human as regards the upper part of his body, while the lower is shaped like a dragon.  CEDAR, a name applied to several members of the Natural Order Coniferce. The word Cedar (the Greek Ke Spos) is probably derived from the Arabic Kedr, worth or value, or from Kedrat, strong. The name has been supposed by some to have taken its origin from the brook Cedron, in Judasa. The Abies Cednis or Cedrus Lilani, the far-famed Cedar of Lebanon, is a tree which, on account of its beauty, stateliness, and strength, has always been a favourite with poets and painters ; and which, in the figurative language of prophecy, is frequently employed in the Scriptures as a symbol of power, prosperity, and longevity. It grows to a vertical height of from 50 to 80 feet &quot; exalted above all trees of the field,&quot; and at an elevation of about 6000 feet above sea-level. In the young tree, the bole is straight and upright, and one or two leading branches rise above the rest. As the tree increases in size, however, the upper branches become mingled together, and the tree is then clump-headed. Numerous lateral ramifying branches spread out from the main trunk in a horizontal direc tion, tier upon tier, covering a compass of ground the diameter of which is often greater than the height of the tree. Gilpin, in his Forest Scenery, describes a cedar which, at an age of about 118 years, had attained to a height of 53 feet, and had a horizontal expanse of 96 feet. The branchlets of the cedar take the same direction as the branches, and the foliage is very dense and close-woven. The tree, as with the rest of the fir-tribe, except the larch, is evergreen ; the leaves are renewed every spring, but their fall is gradual. In shape the leaves are straight, taper ing, cylindrical, and pointed; they are about an inch long, and of a dark green colour, and grow in alternate tufts of about thirty in number. The male and female flowers grow on the same tree, but are separate. The cones, which are on the upper side of the branches, are flattened at the ends, and are 4 or 5 inches in length, and 2 inches wide ; they take two years to come to perfection, and while growing exude much resin. The scales are close pressed to one another, and are reddish in colour. The seeds are provided with a long membranous wing. The root of the tree is very strong, and ramifying. The cedar flourishes best on sandy loamy soils. It still grows on Lebanon, eleven groves having been described by the American missionary Jessup ; and pro bably is to be found over the whole group of mountains lying between Damascus and Tripoli in Syria, which com prehends, besides Lebanon, the Mounts Taurus and Amanua of the ancients. Lamartine tells us that the Arabs regard the trees as endowed with the principles of continual existence, and with reasoning and prescient powers, which enable them to prepare for the changes of the seasons. The best known group in the Lebanon range consists of twelve very ancient trees amidst a grove of about 400 younger ones apparently the yellow cedars spoken of by Lamartine. They occupy little knolls in the Jebel-el Arz, a recess or hollow near the highest point of the mountains, about 15 miles from the sea. One tree on the southern side has a circumference of 42 feet at its base. Lord Lindsay mentions two other cedars on the northern edge of the grove, one 63, and another 49 feet in girth. The number of the trees has been slowly decreasing since 1550, when Belon counted twenty-eight of them ; nearly 200 years later, when Dr Pococke visited Syria, only 15 were to be seen. The wood of the cedar of Lebanon is fragraat, though not so strongly scented as that of the juniper or red-cedar of America. It appears that the wood may be hard in portions, and sufficiently close-grained and compact to be carved, the fibre in mountain-cedars being finer than in those grown on plains. The wood is, however, generally described as a reddish-white light material, of a coarse grain and spongy texture, easy to work, but liable to shrink and warp. Dr Pococke affirms that it does not differ in appear ance from white deal, nor does it seem to be harder. As a firewood, it is said to be inferior, burning quickly and evolving but little heat. The cedar of Lebanon is cultivated in Europe for ornament only. It can be grown in parks and gardens, and thrives well ; but the young plants are unable to bear great variations of temperature. According to Gilpin, the English cedar in its maturer age becomes shrivelled and deformed, the body increasing, whilst the limbs shrink. In the Botanic Gardens at Chelsea are two cedars, planted there in 1683, which have probably lived upwards of 200 years. At Caen Wood, Hampshire, are four trees which have been growing since 1756, and are as much as 100 feet in height. The first cedars in Scotland were planted at Hopetoun House in 1740 ; and the first one said to have been introduced into France was brought from England by Bernard de Jussieu in 1734, and placed in the Jardin des Plantes. Cedar-wood is earliest noticed in Leviticus xiv. 4, 6, where it is prescribed among the materials to be used for the cleansing of leprosy ; but the wood there spoken of was probably that of the juniper. The term Eres (cedar) of Scripture does not apply strictly to one kind of plant, but was used indefinitely in ancient times, as is the word cedar at present. The term arz is ap plied by the Arabs to the cedar of Lebanon, to the com mon pine-tree, and to the juniper; and certainly the &quot; cedars &quot; for masts, mentioned in Ezek. xxvii. 5, must have been pine-trees. It seems very probable that the fourscore thousand hewers employed by Solomon for cut ting timber did not confine their operations simply to what would now be termed cedars and fir-trees. Dr Lindley considers that some of the cedar-trees sent by Hiram, king of Tyre, to Jerusalem may have been procured from Mount Atlas, and have been identical with the Callitris quadri- valvis, or arar-tree, the wood of which is hard and durable, and was much in request in former times for the building 