The '-fasces" carried by the " liftors " of 

 ancient Rome, in front of the magistrates, are 

 beheved to have been made of birch branches. 

 Birch is said to have been the form of de- 

 coration during Rogation week, as the holly is 

 at Christmas. 



" Sweet bird of the meadow, soft be thy rest, 

 Thy mother will wake thee at morn from thy nest ; 

 She has made a soft nest, little redbreast for thee. 

 Of the leaves of the birch and the moss of the tree." 



Leydcn. 



