344 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



way much beauty of colour if left alone. All the favourite trees for 

 clipping are far more beautiful in colour in a natural state ; the loss 

 of the stem colour alone is a great one, as we may see wherever 

 old Yews show their finely-coloured stems. 



Motion. — In the movement of these trees stirred by the wind, and 

 the gentle sighing of their branches, we have some most welcome 

 aspects of tree life. In groves of Ilex, as at Ham House, and masses 

 of the same tree, as at St. Ann's, the effect of the motion of the 

 branches is to many a beautiful one. This movement is also of great 

 beauty in groves of old Yew trees, and is seen in every cedar and 

 Pine that pillars the hills. The voice of the wind in these trees is 

 one of the most grateful sounds in nature, and has often inspired the 



poet. 



" I see the branches downward bent, 

 Like keys of some great instrument." 



And even when the storm is past we hear delicate music in the 

 free pine tips. 



" What voice is this ? what low and solemn tone, 



Which, though all wings of all the winds seem furled, 



Nor even the zephyr's fairy flute is blown, 



Makes thus for ever its mysterious moan 

 From out the whispering Pine-tops' shadowy world ? 



Ah, can it be the antique tales are true ? 



Doth some lone Dryad haunt the breezeless air, 

 Fronting yon bright immitigable blue. 

 And wildly breathing all her wild soul through 



That strange unearthly music of despair ? 



Or, can it be that ages since, storm-tossed, 



And driven far inland from the roaring lea. 

 Some baffled ocean-spirit, worn and lost. 

 Here, through dry summer's dearth and winter's frost. 



Yearns for the sharp sweet kisses of the sea ? " 



Death and Disease of the Trees. — The fifth objection is that 

 the constant mutilation of trees leads to death and disease not unfre- 

 quently, as may be seen constantly at Versailles. In the Derbyshire 

 examples, recently so much illustrated, the stems of dead Pines are 

 shown in the pictures ! It is simply an end one might expect from 

 the annual mutilation of a forest tree, which the Yew certainly is, as 

 we see it among the cedars on the mountains of North Africa, as well 

 as in our own country and in Western Europe. Other trees of the 

 same great Pine order are yet more impatient of the shears, and some 

 of them, like the cedar, escape solely because of their dignity. How- 

 ever, we distort the Yew, which is in nature sometimes as fine as a 

 Cedar. 



Annual Cost. — The sixth objection is that of cost. Few 



