SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



Ebrius incinctis philyra conviva capillis 

 Saltat;, et imprudens utitur arte meri." 



Ovid. Fast. 



A cup too much the boon companion takes. 



And reeling in the dance, his linden riband shakes." 



" Displicent nexae philyra coronge." 



Horace, Ode xxxviii. book i. 



Ribands from the Hnden tree 

 Give a wreath no charms for me *.'' 



The character of the Lime the most frequently no- 

 ticed by poets, is its smoothness : Virgil says, — " Tilige 

 laeves — " Smooth Limes."" Cowper alludes to this qua- 

 lity in the following passage, in which he describes a 

 beautiful character of woody scenery which has not often 

 been touched upon : 



" Here the gray smooth trunks 



Of ash, or lime, or beech, distinctly shine, 

 Within the twilight of their distant shades ; 

 There, lost behind a rising ground, the wood 

 Seems sunk, and shortened to its topmost boughs." 



Task, book i. 



The same circumstance is noticed in the Story of 

 Rimini, with the addition of a bright sunshine : 



" Places of nestling gi-een for poets made. 

 Where, when the sunshine struck a yellow shade. 

 The slender trunks to inward-peeping sight. 

 Thronged in dark pillars up the gold green light." 



Leigh Hunt. 



* This is Horace speaking. He is telling his servant not to 

 make ostentatious preparations for the wine he is going to drink 

 under a bower, nor to add any thing to the simple crown of myrtle 

 for his head. 



