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“ Yes! gazing on thee now, 
Those scenes beloved can memory draw 
When simple childhood’s hat of straw 
Shaded my careless brow : 
And round it cluster’d many a wreath 
Of blossoms wild and sweet as thou, 
And lighter was the heart beneath 
Than it is now.” 
In the days when flowers were given as marks of 
distinction on various occasions, a single rose was 
awarded by Clemens the Isaurian, who instituted the 
floral games, as the prize of eloquence. 
Some authors imagine that it was from this shrub 
the crown of thorns was made # ; be that as it may, 
the thoughtful wanderer, whilst viewing its beauty and 
inhaling its fragrance, will not forget that 
“ Many a moral hangs upon its thorn; ” 
* The Latin monks aver that the crown of thorns was made of Ly- 
cium spinosum (Boxthorn); others give this mournful distinction to 
Rhamnus spina Christi (Buckthorn), thence called Christ’s thorn. But 
Hasselquist, who very happily illustrates Scripture by his observations, 
thinks that the Naba, or Nabka, of the Arabians is the tree which fur¬ 
nished this crown, offering as a reason for his conjecture, that “ this plant 
has many small and sharp spines, well adapted to give pain; and, as the 
leaves much resemble those of ivy, perhaps the enemies of Christ chose 
a plant similar to that with which emperors and generals were wont 
to be crowned, that there might be calumny even in the punishment. 
