PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 673 



I doubt not that the thoughts which, as I proceed, my subject will sug- 

 gest to you, will lead your minds back to some of the holiest and best days 

 of tlie world, and recall to your memory some of the finest passages in its 

 history-; some of the greatest actions, some of the holiest and sweetest 

 spots iu its antiquity; and I hope that a remembrance of what I may sa^ 

 this evening may induce you to plu,nt some of the trees I shall allude to, if 

 not for their own intrinsic beauty yet for the delightful associations con- 

 nected with them, which will always be a theme of pleasure. 



The Cedar of Lebanon is one of the first trees in sacred association ; the 

 statelincss of its form, the disposition of its branches, its depth of green, 

 its magnificent aspect, render it surpassingly beautiful among trees. On 

 the mountains surrounding Jerusalem it could be seen casting " a weight 

 of glory" upon them. On Lebanon it formed a fit accompaniment to that 

 glorious view which embraces the waters of the Mediterranean and the con- 

 fines of the Persian gulf. 



The Jews believed that God loved it more than any other tree. It was 

 the fruitful source of metaphor and illustration to the Hebrew poets : did 

 they speak of the prosperity of the righteous, the simile was " He shall 

 grow as the Cedar of Lebanon;" were comeliness and majesty to be ex- 

 pressed, love and reverence to be excited, the Cedar of Lebanon afibrded 

 apt illustration. 



In ancient times it was accounted a great privilege to have Lebanon and 

 its cedars. So Mtrses, with earnestness of feeling and language, exclaims, 

 " I pray thee, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, 

 that goodly mountain and Lebanon." 



From its wonderful durability, it was extensively used in building the" 

 temples of the Gods. The temple of Solomon was inlaid with cedar; " iu 

 it was no stone seen." The principal portion of the wood-work of the tem- 

 ple of Apollo at Utica, and of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, was of this 

 wood, as was also the statue of Diana at Ephesus, " whom all Asia and the 

 world worshiped;" and the statue which fell down from Jupiter. 



It was the emblem of eternity ; of its wood was the scepter of Jupiter 

 made, and also the statues of their kings. Virgil alludes to this in the 

 .cEneid, saying, 



" Before the gates, a venerable band 



In cedar carved, the Latin monarchs stand." 



I cannot forego the pleasure of quoting from Shakespeare the beautiful 

 allusions to this tree. In the 5th act of the 3d part of Henry VI , he says, 

 alluding to the fall of "Warwick, 



"Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge 

 Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle. 

 Under whose shade the rampant lion slept, 

 Whose top branch o'crpepr-d Jove's spreading tree, 

 And kept low shrubs from winter's powerful wind." 



And again, in the last scene of Henry VIII., Cranmer, in speaking of 

 James I., says: 



lie shall flourish, 

 And like a mountain cedar reach his branches 

 To all the plains about hira. J 



^Am. Ikst.1 Q* 



