108 



MR HARDY ON THE REVIVAL OF 



down, amongst the water, the roots could be traced, under and above 

 the bark of the old tree, which they had ruptured, and together with 

 the warmth of the sun, had caused to peel off. The vital ingredient 

 had now entirely deserted the exhumed trees, having exhausted it- 

 self in giving birth to an energetic offspring, that, nourished at first 

 from their parents' sapless trunks, ere long, finding their fellowship 

 with rottenness and corruption unproductive of the liberty and un- 

 restrained relaxation their budding necessities rendered urgent, — ■ 

 striking roots into the inviting soil, and shaking oiF their dependence 

 on the meagre resources of outworn decrepitude, proceeded, in obe- 

 dience to the laws of their constitution, to assert their prerogatives 

 to a separate existence and self-maintenance. The old tree thus 

 bereft of its few remaining drops of nutrient aliment, like a tuber 

 that has parted with its strength and substance, in producing a race 

 of procreant stems, rapidly resigned the frail tenure, by which as an 

 animate object of " the olden time,'' it yet " shook hands with latter" 

 days. The three other trees, whose mouldering roots and stumps 

 were visible, had each found a representative of five or six feet in 

 height. The rest of the young willows, to which access could be 

 obtained, had no traceable connection with trees ; the trunks whence 

 they originated, being either deeply involved in mud, or as the place 

 is within the reach of all that pass, and they numerous, may have 

 offered too seducing substitutes for Christmas logs to be slightly over- 

 looked. It was easy, however, to perceive that they had arisen from 

 precisely the same source as their kindred ; for many of them grew 

 in lines, as if from the stems of trees, that once filled up the inter- 

 vening vacuities. Of these young willows I enumerated forty-eight, 

 not all, however, the products of as many trees, as three or four 

 would sometimes occur in a linear arrangement. The species in all 

 instances is alike, — the common ** grey saugh" (Salix aquatica) ; 

 several of which, of small dimensions, yet flourish in the valley, and 

 on the banks of the Tyne. 



The precise period, when these trees were brought into their pre- 

 sent situation is beyond conjecture. There are no indications, by 

 which we can with certainty assign the date. Previous to the ope- 

 ration that has again laid them bare, the aspect of the surface was 

 undistinguishable, unless in its amphibious character, and a covering 

 of fen-grasses (Aira aquatica^ crBspitosa^ ^c.J, *' rashers'* (JunciJ 

 and ** risp-grass" ( Arundo phragmites) from the flat, cultivated 

 tracts around ; and it is precisely on a level with the site of the adjacent 

 village of Dunston. An accumulation of earth, seven feet in depth, 



