extremes, either of heat or cold, tend to deteriorate both the mind and the body of the human species; above all, when we reflect that "the glory of the Lord has risen on our land," while "gross darkness covers" those regions, who would not say with the poet,

"England, with all thy faults, I love thee still, -
My country"?

We read of India's "spiced air,"
Her forests vast, her gorgeous bowers;

Of trees, which at one moment bear

The richest fruit, the fairest flowers.

But they for whom these wonders smile,
Who breathe this "spiced air," are slaves;

Then hail, to thee, my native isle!

Whose only vassals are the waves.

We read of trees of mighty size,

Each forming in " itself a grove;"
Whose drooping boughs, to Fancy's eyes,
Seem into aisles and cloisters wove.

Idolatry's polluted shrine.

Then hail, dear England! land of light! Where heaven-revealed truth doth shine.

Give me, fair land, thy healthful gales,
With sweet but simple perfume fraught;
Give me thy forests, mountains, dales.

What though they do not cumber thought With such oppressive grandeur, — still

They're grand and fair enough for me: There's health upon thy breezy hill,

There's shelter 'neath thy greenwood tree.

The cots, where dwell thy peasant sons,
Each with its garden-plot so gay;
The dingle, where the mill-stream runs,
The green, where children meet to play.
The village church, but barely scann'd,
Just peeping forth from tufted trees;

Oh! what in India's gorgeous land

May be compared with scenes like these?

The spreading banyan's proud array
I heed not, while the oak is ours,
Nor would I change thy ivy spray

For "creepers threading ruby flowers."
But oh! though many a precious boon
To thee, my native land, be given,
A gem yet brighter decks thy crown,

Thine is "the light that leads to Heaven!"

THE CEDAR.

PINUS CEDRUS.

"The cedar proud and tall."

It has been remarked that the fig, the vine, and the olive, are richer in scriptural associations than any other trees: this statement must be recalled, for even they, honoured as they are, yield to the cedar. The cedar of Lebanon! - what a crowd of interesting recollections rush on the mind at the very mention of it; for we meet with it in almost every page of the Bible! In the poetical parts, it is made the constant symbol of prosperity, majesty, and duration.

It is called upon to figure the flourishing state of "the righteous: "

"He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon."

To denote the prosperity of the Jewish nation,—

"The boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars."