108 



SYLVAX SKETCHES. 



A writer of our own time represents 

 " Faunus fast asleep 



Upon whose outstretched arm^ whose hand 

 Loosely touched his cornel spear. 

 His cheek was pillowed ; flushed, and tanned 

 ^Vith sports of sylvan cheer." 



Amarynthus. 



Homer mentions the Cornel as affording a coarse food, 

 scattered to the companions of Ulysses, by Circe, after 

 slie had transformed them into hogs : — 



Meantime the goddess in disdain bestows 



The mast and acorn, (brutal food !) and strows 



The fruit of cornel, as they feast around." 



Odyssey, book x. 



Virgil, also, speaks of the Cornel-berry : Ach^menides, 

 one of the follow^ers of Ulysses, whom the poet (in con- 

 tradiction of Homer) supposes to have been left on the 

 coast of Sicily, in the hurry of escape from the Cyclops, 

 relating his adventures to Eneas and Anchises, says — 



Victum infelicem, baccas, lapidosaque corna 

 Dant rami, et vulsis pascunt radicibus herbas." 



^neid. iii. 



Cornels, and savage berries of the wood. 



And roots and herbs, have been my meagre food." 



Captain Franklin informs us that bears eat the Cornel 

 berries, and fatten on them ; whence they are named by 

 the Crees Musqua jmina, Bear-berries*. 



* Journey to the Polar Shores. 



