154 



SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



O yes it doth ; a thousand fold it doth ; 

 And, to conclude,— the shepherd's homely curds. 

 His cold thin drink out of his leathern bottle. 

 His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade, 

 All which secure and sweetly he enjoys. 

 Is far beyond a prince's delicates." 



Third Part— Henry Sixth. 



The Hawthorn is always associated with the idea of 

 tranquil ease, or rural sports : 



Come, my Corinna, come, and coming, mark 



Plow each field turns a street, each street a park. 



Made green, and trimmed with trees ; see how 



Devotion gives each house a bough 



Or branch ; each porch, each door, ere this. 



An ark, a tabernacle is ; 



Made up of Whitethorn neatly interwove." 



Herrick's Hesperides. 



The beautiful blossoms of the Whitethorn very much 

 resemble the cherry-blossom, or that of the myrtle. 

 Sometimes indeed they are deeply tinted with rose- 

 colour, but they are much more generally white : 



Between the leaves the silver Whitethorn shows 

 Its dewy blossows pure as mountain snows." 



Kleist's Spring *. 



The Glastonbury Thorn, which is an early variety of 

 the Cratcegus oxyacantha, is said to have been originally 

 the staff of Joseph of Arimathea. According to the 

 tradition of the Abbey of Glastonbury, he came to Bri- 

 tain, attended by twelve companions, and founded, in 

 honour of the Blessed Virgin, the first Christian church 

 in this island. As a proof of his mission, he is said to 



* See Time's Telescope for 1820, p. 171. 



