THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. 413 



would console himself in the weariness of a long, rainy, 

 sunless day, in thinking, "The Cedar will look greener 

 to-morrow." Every friend and visitor was shown the 

 Cedar, and each felt it a comfort in the midst of so much 

 Avretchedness to see it. They were as proud of the Cedar 

 in this prison as if they had planted it. Who will not 

 grieve for the fate of the Cedar of Ijebanon "? It had 

 grown and flourished for a hundred years, — for Cedars do 

 not need centuries, like the Oak, to attain their highest 

 growth, — when, just as its hundredth year was attained, 

 the noble, the beautiful tree was cut down to make room 

 for a railway ; and now the hissing steam-engine passes 

 over its withered roots. Such things, it seems, must be ; 

 and we must not too much grieve or complain at any of 

 the changes that pass around us in this world of changes : 

 and yet we cannot but feel sorry for the Cedar of Lebanon. 



Such is the history of the introduction of the Cedar 

 into France ; a tale which has often been told, but 

 nowhere in a more pleasing manner than in the foregoing 

 extract from Sharpe's London Magazine. The date of its 

 introduction into Great Britain is not known. 



The Cedar first produced cones in England in the 

 Chelsea Garden about 1766, since Avhich time vast 

 numbers of trees have been raised both from native as 

 well as foreign cones. 



The Cedars of Lebanon are frequently mentioned in 

 the Sacred Yolnme, and from their majestic growth are 

 made an emblem of regal state, and so of the prosperity of 

 the kingdom typified. They were formerly very abun- 

 dant, but being much sought after for their timber, Avhich 

 was considered imperishable, their number is now greatly 

 diminished. It was used in great quantities in the 

 building of the Temple and Solomon's Palace at Jeru- 

 salem, and by the Tyrians the masts of ships were made 

 of Cedar. The needle-shaped leaves are shorter than 

 those of the Scotch Fir, and grow in bunches of more 

 than twenty, like those of the Larch, but they are of a 



