28o 



" Holy and hys meny men tliey dawnsyn and they 

 syng, 

 Ivy and hur maydyns they wepyn and they wrnig, 

 May my May, &c. " 



In the floral calendars of our old monkish 

 fathers, the common holly is dedicated to St 

 Ethellurge, anno domini 664, and it is worthy 

 of remark that in antient times, on the festival 

 of this saint, which was held on October i, 

 Furmity was an usual dish. 



We find that another variety of holly, the 

 " Ilex bacciflora," is dedicated to the nativity 

 of Jesus Christ. This feast is held upon 

 December 25, and is known as Christmas- 

 day. 



It appears that the holly was kept in the 

 houses until Candlemas-day, the 2d of Febru- 

 ary. Herrick, the old poet, strictly enjoins its 

 removal upon that day. He says : — 



" Down with the holly, ivie, all 

 Wherewith ye drest the Christmas hall, 

 That so the superstitious find 

 No one least branch there left behind ; 

 For look, how many loves there be 

 Neglected there, maids, trust to me. 

 So many goblins you shall see." 



It is a common custom with us to take down 

 the dead branches of the holly and burn them 

 after the pagan custom of burning the dead. 

 Those which have been used in the deco- 

 ration of our churches are burnt in the burial 

 grounds, and those of our houses in the com- 

 mon grates. Your wives and daughters will 

 tell you that it is bad luck to throw them on 

 the dust-heap ; but from what source this and 

 other customs connected with the Christmas 

 holly owe their origin, I must leave with you 

 to decide. I shall conclude my remarks upon 

 this tree with a quotation from Southey — 



" And as when all the summer leaves are green- 

 So bright and green, 

 The holly-leaves their fadeless hues display — 



Less bright than they ; 

 But when the bare and wintry woods we see, 

 What then so cheerful as tlie holly tree ? " 



I shall next call your attention to the Ivy, 

 It is truly said of this plant that it is " never 

 sere," that its flowers are persistent through 

 the winter, thus affording food to myriads of 



Tlic Country Gcntkmaiis Magadiic 



insects, and that it possesses a high degree of 

 ambition, inasmuch as it is always struggling 

 to get up in the world. 



Robert Tyas, in his " Favourite Field- 

 flowers," says : — 



" Sacred to friendship ; we would place 

 Thy name, dark ivy, on our opening page. 

 And here thy changeless leaf we trace, 

 Tnisting that, should our lives endure to age, 

 Our love, without a change or shade 

 May meet all trials with a smile serene. 

 Unaltered, as thy graceful braid 

 In summer's heat and winter's cold is seen." 



Our common ivy, the Hedera Helix, is 

 dedicated in the old Floral Calendars to 

 Saint Paul the hermit, anno domini 342. 

 Saint Jerome, his biographer, says : — " When 

 St Paul was twenty-two years of age he fled 

 from the persecution of Decius to a cavern, 

 near which grew a palm tree that supplied 

 him with leaves for clothing and fruit for 

 food till he was forty-three years of age, after 

 which he was daily fed by a raven till he was 

 ninety, and then died. St Anthony, when 

 he approached the body saw two lions dig- 

 ging his grave with their claws, into which he 

 buried him." 



The ivy is a tree of very antient repute, 

 occupying a prominent place in the mythology 

 of the Greeks and Romans, and applied to 

 purposes which were deemed most honour- 

 able. The great god Bacchus had his brows 

 and spear decked with ivy. We read in holy 

 writ that the Jews were compelled to go in 

 procession to Bacchus carrying ivy. This 

 was one amongst the many humiliations they 

 had to suffer from their conquerors, and the 

 decree was that they who did not commit 

 idolatry, who did not " confonn themselves 

 to the manners of the Gentiles," and pollute 

 even the temple of their god, should be put 

 to death. 



As a further illustration of its high office 

 in antient times we may note that the people 

 of Thrace adorned their armour with the foli- 

 age of the same tree, and an ivy crown was 

 the highest prize that was awarded to a suc- 

 cessful poet. Horace speaks of 



" An ivy wreath, fair learning's prize." 



