FLOK A S I. K XI CON. 



99 



OLLY. Ilex. Class 4, Ti:ik.\m)i:i\. Or- 

 der: Tetragynia. The providence of an 

 all-wise Creator is shown in an admirable 

 manner in this beautiful plant. The great 

 hollies which grow in the forest of Need- 

 wood bear leaves bristling with thorns to the 

 height of eight or ten feet, and above this 

 height the leaves cease to be thorny. There the plant has no 

 need to arm itself against enemies which cannot reach it. This 

 tree, with its dazzling verdure, is the last ornament of the forests, 

 when they are despoiled by the winter's frosts and chilling blasts ; 

 its berries 6erve as food for the little birds which remain with us 

 through the inclement season of winter ; and it also offers them 

 a comfortable shelter amid its foliage. 



FORESIGHT. 



Some to the holly hedge 

 Nestling repair, and to the thicket some; 

 Some to the rude protection of the thorn. 



Thomson. 



O reader! hast thou ever stood to see 



The holly tree? 



The eye that contemplates it well perceives 



Its glossy leaves; 



Order'd by an Intelligence so wise 



As might confound an atheist's sophistries. 



Below a circling fence, its leaves are seen 



Wrinkled and keen ! 



No grazing cattle through their prickly round 



Can reach to wound ; 



But, as they grow where nothing is to fear, 



Smooth and unarm'd the pointless leaves appear. 



SOUTHEY. 



