102 OBSERVATIONS ON THE BROOM. 



A Russian poet speaks of the Broom as a tree : — 



(f See there upon the broom-tree's hough 

 The young grey eagle flapping now." 



Boivring's Russian Anthology. 



The blossom of the common Broom closely resembles that of the 

 furze, both in form and colour — that furze which sheds such a lustre 

 over our heaths and commons, and at sight of which, it is said, 

 Dillenius fell into a perfect ecstasy. In many parts of Germany the 

 furze-bush is unknown. Gerarde says, that about Dantzic, Bruns- 

 wick, and in Poland, there was not a sprig of either Furze or Broom ; 

 and it is really a striking sighc to come suddenly upon a common, 

 glowing, as it were, in one great sea of gold. Gerarde add p , that, in 

 compliance with earnest and repeated entreaties, he sent seeds to 

 these places, and that the plants raised from them were curiously 

 kept in the finest gardens. Furze bears various names in different 

 parts of England : Furze in the south, Whin in the east, and Gorse 

 in the north. 



" The prickly gorse that, shapeless and deformed, 

 And dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom, 

 And decks itself with ornaments of gold." 



Cowper's Task. 



" Or from yon swelling downs, where sweet air stirs 

 Blue harebells lightly, and where prickly furze 



Buds lavish gold." 



Keats' s Endymion. 



St. Pierre evidently alludes to the furze-bush in the following 

 passage : — " I saw in Brittany a vast deal of uncultivated land : 

 nothing grows upon it but Broom, and a shrub with yellow flowers, 

 which appeared to me a composition of thorns. The country people 

 called it Lande, or San ; they bruise it to feed their cattle. The 

 Broom serves only to heat their ovens. It might be turned to better 

 account. The Romans made cord of it, which they preferred to 

 hemp, for their shipping." — St. Pierre's Voyage to the Isle of 

 France. 



