1072 



ticed and unknown (save by the passing hay-maker) from the period of the mill's dis- 

 solution to the autumn of the year 1813, when one of our nut-eating wild animals, 

 probably by way of a winter store, deposited a few nuts under its protecting cover. In 

 the course of the following summer, a single nut having escaped the teeth of the de- 

 stroyer, sent up its verdant shoot through the hole in the centre of the procumbent 

 millstone. 



" One day I pointed out this rising tree to a gentleman who was standing by ; and 

 I said, ' If this young plant escape destruction, some time or other it will support the 

 millstone, and raise it from the ground.' He seemed to doubt this. 



"In order, however, that the plant might have a fair chance of success, I directed 

 that it should be defended from accident and harm by means of a wooden paling. 

 Year after year it increased in size and beauty ; and when its expansion had entirely 

 filled the hole in the centre of the millstone, it gradually began to raise up the mill- 

 stone itself from the seat of its long repose. This huge mass of stone is now 8 inches 

 above the ground, and is entirely supported by the stem of the nut-tree, which has ri- 

 sen to the height of 25 ft. and bears excellent fruit. 



" Strangers often inspect this original curiosity. When I meet a visitor whose 

 mild physiognomy informs me that his soul is proof against the stormy winds of poli- 

 tics, which now-a-days set all the world in a ferment, I venture a small attempt at 

 pleasantry, and say, that I never pass this tree and millstone without thinking of poor 

 old Mr. Bull, with a weight of eight hundred millions of pounds about his neck." — 22. 



Kindly afFectioned as he is towards all things that live, yet is Mr. 

 Waterton's love poured out in its fullest measure upon the feathered 

 race. And in proportion as the tenants of air are protected or perse- 

 cuted, defended or injured by other tribes, so are the latter esteemed 

 or contemned by the kind-hearted Wanderer. These feelings are even 

 extended to the vegetable kingdom; and among trees and shrubs, 

 such as afford to his winged favourites the greatest amount of food 

 and shelter, enjoy the largest share of Mr. Waterton's regard. Of 

 these the holly, the yew and the ivy, have each an Essay devoted to 

 them, all of which claim our attention. And standing first in order, 

 as the tree apparently does in Mr. Waterton's esteem, we begin with 

 a few extracts from the Essay on 



The Holly. 



" I am very partial to the holly, the yew, and the ivy. They give both food and 

 shelter to the birds ; whilst their charming green foliage makes us almost forget that 

 winter has set in. The holly claims my preference ; for, in addition to food and shel- 

 ter, it affords an impenetrable retreat to those birds which take up their quarters on its 

 branches for the night. 



" Our ancestors knew and felt the value of the holly hedge, when the wintry blast 

 whistled through the naked hawthorn. Hence they raised it as a barrier against the 

 north ; and, on the breaking of the clouds at noon, they would resort to the protection 

 which it oflFered, and there enjoy the sun's delightful presence. But modern innova- 

 tion, which, in nine times out of ten, does more harm than good, seems to have con- 

 demned the holly hedge as a thing of stiff unsightly form, and in its vacant place has 



