266 ROSACEA 



.Bishop, 'is that the Hawthorn bush? then ever let it be saved from the 

 edge of the axe ; and evil be to him that would cut from it a branch.' " 



A Hawthorn-tree, which stands connected with older associations than 

 this, is still living ; this is the Hawthorn of Cawdor Castle, near Inverness. 

 It is a tree of great antiquity, and very remarkably preserved. This castle 

 has stood from time immemorial, and tradition relates that the original 

 proprietor of the edifice was directed by a dream to build a castle exactly 

 upon the spot, and this was done in such a manner as to leave no doubt that 

 the tree existed long before the structure was reared. The trunk of the 

 tree with its knotty protuberances is in a vaulted apartment at the base 

 of the principal tower, its root branching out beneath the floor, and its top 

 penetrating the vaulted arch of the stone above in such a manner, that any 

 person seeing it would feel assured that the masonry was adjusted to the 

 size and form of the tree, a space being left at the top of the vaults through 

 which its boughs might be reared. From the most remote times it had been 

 customary for guests to assemble themselves around this tree, and drink 

 success to the House of Cawdor. 



But of all the Hawthorns connected with other days, none is more 

 remarkalile than the Glastonbury Thorn. The high ground on which the 

 Abbey of Glastonbury stands was, in early days, called the Isle of Avelon. 

 Tradition tells that Joseph of Arimathea with twelve companions came hither 

 to preach the Gospel. This missionary is said to have borne with him a 

 trusty staff, which, placed in the ground during sleep, was when he awoke 

 grown into a tree bearing snowy flowers on its boughs. This miracle of 

 course implied that something important was to be done on the spot. Joseph, 

 concluding that his staff, being thus, as it were, taken fi-om him, was to be 

 used no more, made this his resting-place, and built here a chapel, which 

 after many additions and improvements became the magnificent abbey of 

 later years. 



But if we believe the legend, the Thorn had not wholly fulfilled its work 

 when it had indicated the site of the monastic institution — it was destined 

 to remain a wonder to succeeding generations. Not content with believing 

 the actual fact, that this singular tree produces its flowers about Christmas 

 time, the men of other days believed that it invariably budded on the 

 24th of December, was fully blown next day, and that the bloom withered 

 on the following night. In those times, when neither newspapers, nor 

 books, nor familiar letters were common things, superstitions, told from place 

 to place by travelling monks, were readily accredited, and the Thorn con- 

 nected with such marvels was so prized, that the blossoms were sought for 

 by people of all nations, and pieces of the Thorn were exported into distant 

 lands by Bristol merchants. Even in later days, when superstition was 

 somewhat on the wane. King James, Queen Anne, and many of the English 

 nobility, gave large sums of money for cuttings from the original Thorn. 

 Until the time of Queen Elizabeth the Hawthorn had two trunks, one of 

 which was cut down by a zealous Puritan. According to a writer of those 

 times, James Howell, this desecration was not unpunished ; " He was," says 

 this writer, " well served for his blind zeale, who going to cut downe an 

 ancient white Hawthorne-tree, which because it budded before others might 



