“A beautiful painted window, belonging to the thirteenth century, in the Cathedral of Bourges, has a repreſentation of Isaac bearing on his ſhoulders the wood that was to be uſed in his ſacrifice, arranged in the form of a Croſs; the Hebrews, too, marked the lintel of their dwellings with the blood of the Paſchal lamb, in the form of a _Tau_ or Croſs without a ſummit. The widow of Sarepta picked up and held croſſwiſe two pieces of wood, with which ſhe intended to bake her bread. Theſe figures, to which others alſo may be added, ſerve to exalt the triumph of the Croſs, and ſeem to flow from a grand central picture which forms their ſource, and exhibits Jeſus expiring on the Croſs. It is from that real Croſs indeed, bearing the Saviour, that theſe ſubjects from the Old Teſtament derive all their virtue.” [Sidenote: _Wood of the Croſs._] [Sidenote: _Croſs made of pine._] The wood of which it was made is as unſettled as its ſhape. The Venerable Bede ſays that our Lord’s Croſs was made of four kinds of wood: the inſcription of box, the upright beam of cypreſs, the tranſverſe of cedar, and the lower part of pine. John Cantacuméne avers that only three woods were employed: the upright, cedar; the tranſverſe, pine; and the head in cypreſs. Others ſay that the upright was cypreſs, the tranſverſe in palm, and the head in olive; or cedar, cypreſs, and olive. Moſt authorities ſeem to concur that it was made of ſeveral woods, but there is a legend that it was made from the aſpen tree, whoſe leaves ſtill tremble at the awful uſe the tree was put to; whilſt that veritable traveller, Sir John Maundeville, ſays: “And alſo in Iheruſalem toward the Weaſt is a fayre church where the tree grew of the which the Croſſe was made.” Lipſius ſays that it was made of but one wood, and that was oak; but M. Rohault de Fleury (to whoſe wonderful and comprehenſive work, _Mémoire ſur les Inſtruments de la Paſſion de notre Sauveur Jeſus Chriſt_, I am deeply indebted, ſays, “M. Decaiſne, member of the Inſtitut, and M. Pietro Savi, profeſſor at the Univerſity of Piſa, have ſhewn me by the microſcope that the pieces in the Church of the Holy Croſs of Jeruſalem at Rome, in the Cathedral at Piſa, in the Duomo at Florence, and in Notre Dame at Paris, were of _pine_.” And he adds, in a footnote, “Independently of the experiments which M. Savi kindly made in my preſence, he wrote me the reſults of other obſervations, which tended to confirm.”