198 THE HOLLY. 



drops of blood, are thought to be symbolical of our 

 Saviour's sufferings ; for the same reason, perhaps, in the 

 language of several of the northern countries of Europe, 

 the tree is called " Christ's thorn." 



This tree was formerly known by the names of Hulver 

 and Holme, besides its more usual appellation. It is still 

 called Hulver in Norfolk, and Holme in Devonshire, in 

 which last county it has given the name of Holme Chase 

 to a beautiful part of Dartmoor, where it abounds. Evelyn 

 says that the vale near his house, Wotton in Surrey, was 

 anciently called Holmsdale, for the same reason. 



Pliny describes the Holly under the names of Aqui- 

 folium and Aquifolia, that is, needle-leaf, and adds, that 

 it was the same with the tree called, by Theophrastus, 

 Crataegus ; a statement which the commentators pronounce 

 erroneous, the Greek name for the Holly being Agri. He 

 says also, that if planted in a house or farm, it repels 

 poison, and that its flowers cause water to freeze. A staff 

 of its wood, he adds, if thrown at any animal, even if it 

 fall short of the mark, has the wonderful property of com- 

 pelling such animal to return and lie down by it. 



The Holly is a native of most of the central and 

 southern parts of Europe, but is said nowhere to attain so 

 great a size as in Great Britain, where it sometimes ranks 

 as a second-rate forest tree. As it grows very slowly, if 

 it were impatient of the drip of other trees we should 

 never see it in our woods ; but the Divine Power which 

 fixed its rate of growth ordained at the same time that it 

 should thrive under the shade of its lofty companions. 

 Hence we frequently see it deepening the gloom of a 

 forest, where it is rarely visited by even a few straggling 

 sunbeams, and where the only moisture which bathes its 

 leaves is derived from the superfluous rain which has 

 dripped from the overshadowing foliage of its more 

 elevated comrades. When planted among trees which 

 are not more rapid in growth than itself, it is sometimes 

 drawn up to a height of fifty feet or more. More frequently 



