274 AUTUMNAL LEAVES. 



Deck'd with autumnal berries, that outshine 



Spring's richest blossoms ; and ye may have mark'd 



By a brookside, or solitary tarn, 



How she her station doth adorn : the pool 



-Glows at her feet, and all the gloomy rocks 



Are brighten'd round her.' 



Its name of Mountain Ash is a misnomer, for it 

 has no relation whatever to the Ash, and only 

 resembles it in the pinnate form of its leaves. 

 Gilpin fell into the error of considering it ' a 

 beautiful variety ' of the common Ash ; but the 

 genial author of Forest Scenery made no preten- 

 sion to be a botanist. He has, however, a charac- 

 teristic, passage 011 the Mountain Ash, Roan Tree, 

 or Fowler's Service Tree, of which he says : 

 5 Its name denotes the place of its usual residence. 

 Inured to cold and rugged scenes, it is the hardy 

 inhabitant of the northern parts of this island. 

 Sometimes it is found in softer climes ; but there 

 it generally discovers, by its stunted growth, that 

 it does not occupy the situation it loves. In 

 ancient days, when superstition held that place 

 in society which dissipation and impiety now hold, 

 the Mountain Ash was considered an object of 

 great veneration. Often, at this day, a stump of 



