MAT. 161 



relieved by an abundant crop of the meadow Orchis 

 (0. morio), and hosts of Blue-bells, that give the hue 

 of the azure heavens for a short space to the fields of 

 earth. The May- weed, too, or Cow-parsley (Cheer o- 

 pJiyllum sylvestre), covers various pastures, and the 

 white Stichwort (Stellaria kolosteum,) shines, while 

 under 'the banks of coppices the "blue-eyed Speed- 

 well" charms the eye, the lesser Periwinkle spreads a 

 tracery of green leaves and blue cups, and the curious 

 Weasel-snout (Galeobdolon lutewn?) blooms around. 



At length Spring is established, and the woods and 

 groves appear in leafy verdure, oak and ash excepted ; 

 and the White-thorn or May, shows itself here and 

 there in the hedges, still sparingly in flower. After a 

 moderately warm April nothing can be more beautiful 

 than the aspect of the country white with hawthorn 

 hedges, rising copiously into flower in every direction, 

 while the gale wafts their fragrance far and wide. But 

 though hedges are a comparatively modern innovation, 

 the Whitethorn is an old English denizen, long loved 

 and honoured, and formerly every village and mansion 

 had its favourite old Thorn, or Bush 



" The hawthorn-bush, with seats beneath the shade, 

 For talking age, and whispering lovers made."* 



Where these monuments of days of yore have been 

 suffered to remain as relics of the past, they have 

 attained a considerable size. In front of a little 

 public house at Shrawley Wier close to the Severn, 

 about nine miles above Worcester, I noticed one some 

 years ago, with a bole full nine feet in circumference, 

 and a very lofty branched tree yet stands in a neg- 

 lected part of the shrubbery at Northampton Cottage, 



* GOLDSMITH. 

 M 



