80 CEDAR OF LEBANON. 



We have spoken/' said he^ of oak^ chest- 

 nut^ and larch^ as the sorts of timber chiefly 

 employed in Europe^ during the middle ages. 

 But the cedar was the tree selected by the 

 earliest architects, for the most sacred and 

 magnificent of their buildings. Of Solomon's 

 temple, which was built about a thousand 

 years before the Christian aera^ it is said, that 

 ^ the cedar of the house within was carved with 

 knops, and flowers ; all was of cedar ; there 

 was no stone seen.' Ancient shipping, also, 

 was frequently built of this timber. No doubt 

 that the qualities of strength and durability, 

 coupled w^ith the advantage of readily yielding 

 to the tool, were the reasons which induced 

 the early builders to select it. It was also 

 then, in many parts, the most plentiful and 

 the largest timber that could be procured. 



But now, I believe, even in their native soils, 



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