REMARKS OH THE HOLLY. 175 



house, in Surry, was anciently called Holmesdale. We presume, 

 the name Holly is a corruption of the word holy, as Dr. Turner, 

 our earliest writer on plants, calls it Holy and Holy-tree ; 

 which appellation was given it, most probably, from its being 

 used in holy places. It has a great variety of names in Germany, 

 amongst which is Christdorn, in Danish it is also Chirstorn, and 

 in Swedish Christtorn, amongst other appellations ; from whence 

 it appears, that it is considered a holy plant by certain classes in 

 those countries. 



The disciples of Zoroaster, believe, that the sun never shadows 

 the Holly-tree. There are still some followers of this king of the 

 magi to be found in the wilds of Persia, and some parts of India; 

 who, when a child is born, throw in its face water which has been 

 put in the bark of a Holly-tree. 



Pliny tells us, that Tiburtus built the city of Tibur, near three 

 Holly-trees, over which he had observed the flight of birds that 

 the gods had fixed for its erection ; and that the trees were stand- 

 ing in his own time, and must, therefore, have been upwards 

 of one thousand two hundred years old. He also tells us, that 

 there was a Holly-tree then growing near the Vatican, in Rome, 

 on which was fixed a plate of brass, with an inscription engraven 

 in Tuscan letters ; that it was older than Rome itself, which must 

 have been more than eight hundred years. This author notices a 

 Holly-tree in Tusculum, the trunk of which measured thirty-five 

 feet in circumference, and which sent out ten branches of such 

 magnitude, that each might pass for a tree ; he says, this single 

 tree alone resembled a small wood. 



The Holly grows to a considerable size, even as a timber 

 tree, in this country, when permitted to stand. Cole tells us, in 

 his " Paradise of Plants," that he knew a tree of this kind which 

 grew in an orchard; and the owner, he says, " cut it down and 

 caused it to be sawn into boards, and made himself a coffiu 

 thereof, and if I mistake not, left enough to make his wife one also. 

 Both the parties were very corpulent ; and, therefore, you may 

 imagine the tree could not be small." 



Bradley mentions that he has seen Holly-trees sixty feet high, 

 at a place called Holly-walk, near Frensham, in Surry. Dr. 

 Withering says, that on the north of the Wrekin, Shropshire, 

 the Holly-trees, grow to a large size, and they are very common 

 in the Chiltcrn division of Buckinghamshire. We have also ob- 



