‘CHAP. XXXIV. AQUIFOLIA CER. ILEX. 511 
running stream of water, as long as you perceive the least impurities in it, and 
so reserve it in some earthen pot to ferment, scumming it as often as anything 
arises, for four or five days; and, when no more filth comes to the top, change 
it into a fresh earthen vessel, and prepare it for use, thus :—Take what quantity 
you please of it, and, in an earthen pipkin, add a third part of capon’s fat, 
or goose-grease, to it, well clarified, or oil of walnuts, which is better ; incor- 
porate these on a gentle fire, continually stirring it till it be cold ; and thus your 
composition is finished.” (Hunter's Evelyn, p. 268.) The use of the grease 
or oil is, to prevent the preparation from freezing; and also to diminish eva- 
poration when the birdlime is spread out on the barks of trees, or other sur- 
faces, to attract birds or vermin. At present birdlime is manufactured in but 
few parts of Britain, though in some parts of Cumberland and Westmoreland 
it is made in small quantities. It is made on a large scale in Italy, and also in 
Turkey; from which latter country it is imported into England for the use of 
London bird-catchers, and for other purposes. 'We recommend gardeners to 
try it on the stems of trees and shrubs, and on wires and lines stretched round 
flower-beds, as a protection against hares and rabbits. 
Medicinally, a decoction of the bark is given for calming a cough. The 
berries are purgative, and six or eight of them will occasion violent vomiting ; 
though they are considered as poisonous to men, yet they form the food of 
some birds, more especially of thrushes. The bark is mucilaginous, emollient, 
and solvent. 
The principal use of the holly in Britain, after all, is as a hedge plant, and as 
an ornamental shrub, or low tree. In the latter capacity, it is surpassed by no 
evergreen whatever, whether we look on the plant in its native state, with its 
deep shining green leaves and coral berries, which remain on the tree for half 
the year; or in its numerous variegations of the gold or silver leaves, and 
white, yellow, or coral berries. 
Mythological, legendary, and poetical Allusions. The use made of the holly at 
Christmas, for ornamenting churches and dwelling-houses, is well known; though 
the origin of the practice is uncertain. The custom of placing evergreens in 
places of religious worship prevailed before the introduction of Christianity ; 
and several texts of Scripture, particularly in the 40th, 41st, 51st, and 55th 
chapters of Isaiah, and in the 8th chapter of Nehemiah, have reference to it : 
but the evergreens originally made use of were branches of the pine, fir, and 
cedar, and sprigs of box. Holly appears to have been first used for this pur- 
pose by the early Christians, at Rome; and was probably adopted for deco- 
rating the churches at Christmas, because holly was used in the great festival 
of the Saturnalia, which occurred about that period, and it was the policy of 
the early fathers of the church to assimilate the festivals of the Pagans and 
Christians as closely as possible in their outward forms, to avoid shocking 
unnecessarily the prejudices of newly made converts. It was customary 
among the ancient Romans to send boughs of holly, during the Saturnalia, as 
emblematical of good wishes, with the gifts they presented to their friends at 
that season; and the holly became thus to be considered as an emblem of 
peace and good-will. It was for this reason, independently of any wish to con- 
ciliate the Pagans, well adapted to be ai emblem of the principal festival of a 
religion which professes, more than any other, to preach peace and good-will 
to man. Whatever may have been the origin of the practice, it appears to be 
of very great antiquity; for Bourne, in his Antiquities of the Common People, 
p. 173., cites an edict of the Council of Bracara, canon 73., forbidding Chris- 
tians to begin to decorate their houses at Christmas with green boughs at the 
same time as the Pagans; the Saturnalia commencing about a week before 
Christmas. Dr. Chandler, in his Travels in Greece, supposes this custom to be 
derived from the Druids, who, he says, decorated dwelling-places with ever- 
greens during winter, “that the sylvan spirits might repair to them, and 
remain unnipped with frost and cold winds, until a milder season had renewed 
the foliage of their darling abodes.’’ In England, perhaps the earliest re- 
cord of this custom is in a carol in praise of the holly, written in the reign of 
NN 
