86 



SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



" But to the cedar, Queene of woods, when I lift my be-teared 

 eyes^ 



Then do I shape to myself e that forme which raigns so withm 

 me, 



And thinke there she doth dwell, and heare what plaints I do 

 utter ; 



"^Vhen that noble top doth nod, I believe she salutes me ; 

 When by the whid it maketh a noyse I doe think she doth 

 answer." 



Book 1st. 



The passage is too long, to give the whole of it ; for 

 the verses of that illustrious man are not the most poetica 

 parts of his writings. In another part of tliis volume, 

 he alludes to the proverbial straightness of the Cedar : 



" As sweet as violets, fau-e as a lilly is, 

 Str eight as a cedar " 



Book 2d. 



This passage also has reference to the person of the 

 lady the smger celebrates. Shakespeare makes a similai' 

 comparison, in Love's Labour Lost, where Dumain comes 

 in praising his mistress : the wonder of a mortal eye f 

 he says she is as upright as the cedar.*' 



Shakespeare fi'equently mentions the Cedar : in Hemy 

 the Sixth, the 2d part, Waricick sa^'s, in answer to Chf- 

 ford— 



This day I '11 wear aloft my burgonet 

 (As on a mountain-top the cedar shews 

 That keeps its leaves in spite of any storrn). 

 E'en to affright thee with the ^-iew thereof." 



According to Ivlassinger, however, it is not so tenacious 

 of its roots : 



" Cedars, once shaken with a storm, their own 

 'Weight grubs their roots out." 



Maid o f Honour, Act Sd, Scene 1st. 



