128 



SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



— ■ — The elder there 



Its purple berries o'er the water bent^ 

 Heavily hanging." 



SOUTHEY. 



The ripe berries are sometimes plucked and eaten by 

 children, but they have a sickly flavour, which pretty 

 generally ensures their safety. 



That most imaginative of all personages, tradition, 

 reports that Judas hung himself upon an Elder-tree*. 



* See Every Man out of his Humour. — Ben Jonson's Works, 

 voL ii. p. 148. 



