THE CEDAR. 



107 



for his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of 

 God could not hide him : the fir-trees were not like his boughs, 

 and the chesnut-trees were not like his branches ; nor any tree in 

 the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. 



" I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches : so 

 that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied 

 him."— c. 31. 



A fertile imagination might be led to suppose that 

 this noble tree had witnessed its princes, its heroes, 

 and its statesmen, holding their councils, and form- 

 ing their lofty projects under the shadow of its 

 branches. The house, with which it may probably 

 be coeval, and which appears to belong to the 

 Elizabethan order of architecture, was in later times 

 the residence of Oliver Cromwell, during the period 

 of the Protectorate ; and some who, dazzled by the 

 glare of false greatness, confound striking incidents 

 with grand ones, have been anxious to inspire ad- 

 ditional respect for the venerable walls, by assigning 

 to them the unenviable distinction of having had 

 the death-warrant of Charles the First signed within 

 them. Very different, at this time, are the pursuits 

 carried on, the consultations held in its once stately 

 council chamber. The house has been, the last half 

 century, devoted to the purposes of education : fair 

 and youthful forms supply the places of sour-visaged 

 Puritans, and lank-haired Roundheads ; mandates 

 and treaties are turned into exercises and themes ; 

 and though the Cedar may still be made occasionally 



