_The Almond Tree, &c._ (Vol. iii., p. 203.).--The allusions in Hall's poem,
stanzas iii. & v., refer to the fine allegorical description of human
decrepitude in _Ecclesiastes_, xii. 5, 6., when
"'The almond tree shall flourish' (_white hairs_), and 'the silver cord
shall be loosed,' and 'the golden bowl broken,' and 'the mourners shall
go about the streets.'"
The pertinence of these solemn figures has been sufficiently explained by
biblical commentators. It is to be presumed that the reference to a source
so well known as the Bible would have occurred at once to the Querist, had
not the allusions, in the preceding stanza, to the _heathen_ fable of
Medea, diverted his thoughts from that more familiar channel.