154 SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



O yes it doth ; a thousand fold it dotli ; 

 And, to conclude, the shepherd's homely curds, 

 His cold thin drink out of his leathern bottle, 

 His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade, 

 All which secure and sweetly he enjoys, 

 Is far beyond a prince's delicates." 



Third Part Henry Sixth. 



The Hawthorn is always associated with the idea of 

 tranquil ease, or rural sports : 



" Come, my Corinna, come, and coming, mark 

 How each field turns a street, each street a park, 

 Made green, and trimmed, with trees ; see how 

 Devotion gives each house a bough 

 Or branch ; each porch, each door, ere this, 

 An ark, a tabernacle is ; 

 Made up of Whitethorn neatly interwove." 



HERRICK'S Hesperides. 



The beautiful blossoms of the Whitethorn very much 

 resemble the cherry-blossom, or that of the myrtle. 

 Sometimes indeed they are deeply tinted with rose- 

 colour, but they are much more generally white : 



" Between the leaves the silver Whitethorn shows 

 Its dewy blossows pure as mountain snows." 



KLEIST'S Spring *. 



The Glastonbury Thorn, which is an early variety of 

 the Crat&gus oxyacantha, is said to have been originally 

 the staff of Joseph of Arimathea. According to the 

 tradition of the Abbey of Glastonbury, he came to Bri- 

 tain, attended by twelve companions, and founded, in 

 honour of the Blessed Virgin, the first Christian church 

 in this island. As a proof of his mission, he is said to 



* See Time's Telescope for 1820, p. 171. 





