84 



SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



Quench my hot limbs ; or lead me through the maze. 



Embowering endless, of the Indian fig. 



Or thrown at gayer ease, on some fair brow. 



Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cooled. 



Broad o'er my head the verdant cedar wave. 



And high palmettos lift their graceful shade." 



Thomson: Sum 771 e7\ 



Shakespeare makes Cranmer say of King James, in 

 anticipation of his birth — 



" he shall flourish. 



And like a mountain cedar, reach his branches 

 To all the plains about him 



But this passage, which occurs in the last scene of 

 Henry the Eighth, is by some persons supposed to have 

 been added by Ben Jonson after the accession of James. 



On high the cedar 



Stoops, like a monarch to his people bending. 

 And casts his sweets around hira." 



B. Cornwall. 



Armstrong, speaking of the cooling fruits and generous 

 shades afforded to the inliabitants of hot chmates, says — 



" The breeze, eternal breathing round their limbs, 

 Supports in else intolerable air ; 

 While the cool palm, the plantain, and the grove 

 That waves on gloomy Lebanon, assuage 

 The torrid hell that beams upon their heads." 



The idea of Lebanon is ever connected with that of the 

 Cedar, for which it is celebrated : 



^' Long have they viewed from far wdth wishing eyes 

 Our fruitful vales, our fig-trees, ohves, vines. 

 Our cedars, palms, and all the verdant wealth 

 That crowns fair Lebanon's aspiring brow\" 



Siege of Damascus. 



