174 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



song that does not allude to the hazel-bush or hazel-nut. Our o^vn poets, too, have 

 been lavish on the same theme. Cowley mentions that the hazel is the favourite 

 resort of the squirrel : — 



" Upon whose nutty top 

 A squirrel sits, and wants no other shade 

 Than what by his oa%ti spreading tail is made. 

 He culls the soundest, dext'rously picks out 

 The kernels sweet, and throws the shells about." 



Thomson, in his "Spring," describes birds as building 



" Among the roots 

 Of hazel pendent o'er the plaintive stream." 



And in his "Autumn," the lover searching for the "clustering nuts" for his fail* 

 one, and when he tinds them — 



" Amid the sweet shade. 

 And where they burnish on the topmost bough. 

 With active vigour crushes down the tree. 

 Or shakes them ripe from the resigning husk, 

 A glossy shower, and of an ardent brown." 



Gray, in his " Shepherd's Week," alludes to the magic powers supposed to be 

 possessed by hazel-nuts — 



" Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame, 

 And to each nut I gave a sweetheart's name, 

 This with the loudest bounce me sore amazed. 

 That with a flame of brightest colour blazed : 

 As blazed tlie nut, so may thy passion grow. 

 For 'twas thy nut that did so brightly glow." 



From the custom of burning nuts in this manner on All Hallows' Eve, that day, the 

 31st October, has received, in some parts of the country, the vulgar appellation of 

 " Nutcrack Night." Burns mentions this custom in his " Halloween " — 



" Amang the bonny winding banks. 

 Where Doon runs wimpling clear, 

 Where Bruce ance ruled the martial ranks 



An' shook the Carrick spear, 

 Some merry, friendly, contree folks 



Together did convene. 

 To burn their nuts, e'en pou their stocks, 

 And hand their Halloween 



Fu' blythe that night." 



Wordsworth says — 



" Among the woods 

 And o'er the pathless rocks I found my way, 

 Until at length I came to one dear nook 

 Unvisited, where not a broken bough 

 Drooped with its withered leaves, ungracious sign 

 Of devastation ! But the hazels rose 



