MAT. TJ 



" It was in memory of this picturesque fact, 

 ftiat the red-berried hawthorn once sheltered 

 the crown of England, that the house of Tudor 

 assumed the device of a crown in a bush of 

 fruited hawthorn. The proverb of ' Cleave to 

 the crown though it hang on a bush,' alludes 

 to the same circumstance." 



The wild-cherry, the apple, the pear, and the 

 mountain ash ; are all now in bloom in hedge- 

 •row, or copse ; while the common is bright with 

 the yellow flowers of the furze, (Llex Enro- 

 pcevs.) Unheeded by those who can delight 

 only in the flower brought from afar, it is ever 

 an object of admiration to the lover of simple 

 beauty. Lmnseus fell on his knees, and thanked 

 God for its loveliness, when first he beheld it. 

 Among the plants of his native land, he knew 

 not one which could equal it ; and he attempted 

 in vain to introduce it into Sweden. Hardy as 

 it is, and capable of bearing the winds wOiich 

 sweep over the bleak moorland, or by the sea- 

 shore ; yet it would not grow in the northern 

 land, and even in the garden in which Linnaeus 

 planted it, it sickened and died. Dillenius, too, 

 looked upon our heath-lands, covered with its 

 profusion of golden flowers, and said that he 

 could not find words to express the pleasure 

 which the sight of this plant had given him. 

 The furze is also an evergreen. Its flowers last 

 from May till summer is ended ; and even 

 during nipping frosts, the bush is sometimes 

 thick with its half-expanded flowers, which seem 

 only awaiting the sunshine, to stand out Uke so 



