ILICINE^. 221 



of this custom is a carol in praise of the Holly, written in the time of Henry VI., and 

 preserved in the Harleian MSS. : — 



" Nay, Ivy, nay, it shall not be, I wys, 

 Let Holy hafe the maystry as the maner ys. 

 Holy stond in the halle, fayre to behold ; 

 Ivy stond without the dore, she ys full sore acold. 



Holy & liys mery men they dawnsyn &, they syng ; 

 Ivy (fe hur maydenys they wepyn it they wryiig. 

 Ivy hath a lybe, she laghtit with the cold. 

 So mot they all leafe that wyth Ivy hold. 



Holy hath berys as red as any rose. 



They foster the hunters, kepe them from the doo j, 



Ivy hath berys as black as any slo, 



Ther com the oide & ete hym as she goo. 



Holy hath byrdys, a ful fayre flok, — 



The nyghtyngale, the poppyngy, the gayntyt lavyrok. 



Good Ivy ! what byrdys ast thou ? 



Non but the howlet, that how ! how ! " 



Stowe, in his " Survey of London," published in 1598, says that in his time every man's 

 house, the parish churches, the corners of the streets, n>arket crosses, etc., were decorated 

 with holme, ivy, and bays at Christmas time. The disciples of Zoroaster believed that 

 the sun never shadows the Holly tree, and the followers of that philosopher who still 

 remain in Persia are said to throw water impregnated with Holly bark in the face of a 

 child newly born. In the language of flowers Holly signifies foresight. Many curious 

 verses, ancient and modern, relating to the use of Holly at Christmas may be found in 

 Forster's " Perennial Calendar ;" and a poem by Southey alludes to the circumstance 

 that the lower branches of the Holly tree within leach of cattle bear spinous, prickly 

 leaves, whilst the upper ones, which need no defence, are soft and smooth ; — 



" 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 unarmed the pointless leaves appear." 



This tendency to produce prickly-pointed leaves renders the Holly peculiarly fit for 

 hedges ; and wlieu Dutch horticulture prevailed in England, such hedges were very 



frequent : — 



" A hedge of Holly thieves that would invade, 

 Eepulses like a growing palisade." 



The ease with which the Holly can be kept trimmed, and its dense prickly foliage, 

 render it the best possible natural fence. The celebrated Sir John Evelyn had such 

 a hedge at Say's Court. It was four hundred feet long, nine feet high, and five feet 

 broad. He i)lanted it at the suggestion of Peter the Great, who resided at his house 

 while he worked in the Deptford dockyard. This enthusiastic writer says, in his Diary : 

 " Is there under heaven a more glorious and refreshing sigiit of the kind than such an 



