ILEX. — JbRAXINUS. 143 



The interesting and ancient fashion of ornamenting the parish 

 church with evergreens, and HoUies especially, at Christmas, was not 

 known in our district until within these few years ; and only a few, 

 I regret to say, are yet so ornamented. But the church of Norham 

 will have its influence in due time. " The name of Holly is a cor- 

 ruption of the word Holy, as Dr. Turner, our earliest writer on plants, 

 calls it Holy, and Holy-tree, which appellation was given it, most 

 probably, from its being used in holy places." See Notes and 

 Queries, vi. p. 487*. — Some are fond of decorating their houses 

 with the Holly at the Christmas season, for we have not the missel- 

 toe ; and the dinner table, on holyday festivals, is sometimes gar- 

 nished with the berried sprigs. The young shoots are much coveted 

 for whip shafts. The knots or knurs on the stem are in repute for 

 making snuff-boxes. A habitual story-teller, our cautious people 

 characterize metaphorically — " He lees never but when the Hollen is 

 green." We find the saying used by William Dunbar, a native of 

 East Lothian, contemporary with Chaucer f: — 



" Omnia mea solatia 



They wer hot lesinges all and ane. 

 Cum omni fraude et fallacia, 



I leif the maister of Sanct Antane, 

 Willelms Gray, sine gratia, 



MjTie aune deir cusing, as I wene. 

 Qui nunquam fabricat mendacia, 



Bot quhen the Holyne growis grene." 



Dunbar's Poems, i. p. 139 ; and ii. p. 321. 



19. Ligustrum vidgare. Cf)t ^ribct. — Common in shrubberies 

 and often planted in hedges, as in those of the Lady kirk estate. It 

 appears naturalized in the Pease-bridge dean; and on the Whiteadder, 

 near Allanton. July. 



370. Fraxinus excelsior. Cf)t '^^^ or (JBiSlj. — It was an 

 astute scepticism that prompted a doubt as to the indigenousness of 

 the Ash ; nor could we now resolve the doubt from any evidence 

 produced from the habitats in which the tree is found, for its seeds 

 or keys are easily carried anywhere. But the Leges Wallicse were 

 made before the art of plantmg was practised ; and by them the 

 value of the Ash is ruled to be " four legal pence," the same as that 

 of the alder and willow. Book iii. p. 142 : and from Wales we are 

 carried into our own district on the burden of an old ballad, which 

 wo 'nt let us forget that — 



" The Oak, the Ash, and the Ivy tree, 

 O, they flourish best at hame, in the north countrie." 



* I need scarcely say that this derivation of the name is veiy erroneous. 

 For the real source, see the Dictionaries of Bailey or Richardson. 



t Chalmers makes Dunbar a native of Berwickshire : — " This county has 

 the honour of having produced Thomas of Ercilton, the earliest poet. 

 William Dunbar, the best poet of Scotland, and Grizel Baillie, the daughter 

 of Patrick, Earl of Marchmont, are of the sweetest of her lyrists." Cale- 

 donia, ii. p. 305. 



