222 SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



" Ebrius incinctis philyra conviva capillis 

 Saltat, et imprudens utitur arte meri." 



OVID. Fast. 



" A cup too much the boon companion takes, 

 And reeling in the dance, his linden riband shakes." 



" Displicent nexse philyra coronse." 



HORACE, Ode xxxviii. book i. 



" Ribands from the linden tree 

 Give a wreath no charms for me *.'' 



The character of the Lime the most frequently no- 

 ticed by poets, is its smoothness : Virgil says, " Tilias 

 laeves :" " Smooth Limes.' 1 Cowper alludes to this qua- 

 lity in the following passage, in which he describes a 

 beautiful character of woody scenery which has not often 

 been touched upon : 



Here the gray smooth trunks 



Of ash, or lime, or beech, distinctly shine, 

 Within the twilight of their distant shades ; 

 There, lost behind a rising ground, the wood 

 Seems sunk, and shortened to its topmost boughs." 



Task, book i. 



The same circumstance is noticed in the Story of 

 Rimini, with the addition of a bright sunshine : 



" Places of nestling green for poets made, 

 Where, when the sunshine struck a yellow shade, 

 The slender trunks to inward-peeping sight, 

 Throng'd in dark pillars up the gold green light." 



LEIGH HUNT. 



* This is Horace speaking. He is telling his servant not to 

 make ostentatious preparations for the wine he is going to drink 

 under a bower, nor to add any thing to the simple crown of myrtle 

 for his head. 



