ELDER—LEMON. 
189 
THE ELDER. 
This native tree, which forms the dispensary of the 
English peasantry, seems zealous in their service, for it 
is so tenacious of life, that it thrives not only in swampy 
grounds, wet ditches, arid and sterile banks, but it grows 
also on the ruins of old towers, and is frequently seen 
self-planted on the trunks of decaying trees. 
There the favourite elder was planted, 
Whose wide-extending branches shelter’d 
The early plants of the rustic garden, 
Whilst its umbels of faint-smelling flowers 
Afforded them their only cosmetic, 
And its purple berries their only wine. 
Its first young buds form’d their only pickle; 
Its pithy stalks their children’s only toy. 
THE LEMON. 
This fragrant plant, whose fruit imparts such an agree¬ 
able relish to the board and the bowl, we present as the 
emblem of zest, and should our pages give a similar zest 
for a novel and innocent amusement, we shall deem our 
labours most pleasingly rewarded. 
