390 



SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



Concava vallis erat : qua se demittere rivi 

 Assuerant pluvialis aquae. Tenet ima lacunas 

 Lenta salix, ulvoeque leves_, juncique palustres, 

 Virainaque, et longa parvs sub arundine cannae/' 



OviD^ Met. lib. viii. 



^' A hollow vale^ where watery torrents gush. 

 Sinks in the plain ; the osier, and the rush. 

 The marshy sedge, and bending willow nod 

 Their trailing foliage o'er its oozy sod." 



Dr. Orger's Ovid. 



" Through all, a streamlet from its mountain source. 

 Seen but by stealth, pursued its willowy course." 



Montgomery. 



" Odours abroad the winds of morning breathe. 

 And fresh with dew the herbage sprang beneath : 

 Down from the hills that gently sloped away 

 To the broad river shining into day. 

 They passed ; along the brink the path they kept 

 Where high aloof o'erarching willows wept : 

 Whose silvery foliage glistened in the beam. 

 And floating shadows fringed the chequered stream." 



Montgomery. 



Virgil remarks the hoary leaf of the Willow : 



" Populus, et glauca canentia fronde salicta." 



Georgic ii. 



Which Martyn renders — 



" The poplar, and the willow with hoary bluish leaves." 



Shakespeare beautifully describes the scene of Ophelia's 

 death : 



" There is a willow grows ascant the brook. 



That shows his hoar leaves in the grassy stream ; 

 There with fantastic garlands did she make. 

 Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples. 

 That liberal shepherds give a grosser name. 



