THE LIME. 97 



great abundance; he, therefore, was the first to 

 abound with prolific bees, and to strain the frothy 

 honey from the well-pressed combs." * 



Our English poets freely refer to the honey of the 

 lime, especially the class of writers represented in 

 Mrs. Hemans and L. E. L. Cowper adverts to it 



" The lime at dewy eve 

 Diffusing odours." 



And, though not in relation to this particular cir- 

 cumstance, we have the tree mentioned also by 

 Lord Byron, in " Lara." Prose writers likewise 

 not infrequently introduce the lime, as much for 

 this reason, no doubt, as for any other, when they 

 would suggest ideas of graceful form and of a 

 delicately-scented atmosphere; Fenelon, for example, 

 in his description of the enchanted island of Calypso. 

 To a mind of pure and elegant tastes, the lime always 

 appeals powerfully, and perhaps it would be no error 

 of judgment to deem preference for it one of the 

 instincts of an amiable and tender disposition, such 

 as admires the grand and stately, but still best loves 



Acanthus. That one to which the name is here applied, 

 appears to have been that beautiful and curious variety of 

 the common holly, which, instead of bearing bracelets of 

 scarlet berries, produces yellow ones. That it was certainly 

 a berried and evergreen shrub, appears from the allusions in 

 Eclogue, iv. 20, and in Georgic ii. 119. 



* Georgic iv. 131-141. See also iv. 183, where the bees 

 " feed on the glowing crocus and the luscious lime." 



