88 THE HAWTHORN. 



There are, however, still in existence two trees of the 

 same description, evidently much above a hundred years 

 old, which no doubt were either grafts, or sprung from 

 seeds of the original tree. From one of these, which 

 stands within the precincts of the Abbey, in a garden 

 adjoining St. Joseph's Chapel, I received, on the llth of 

 February, 1846, a sprig, in full leaf, and furnished with 

 perfectly formed flower-buds. The tree from which it was 

 gathered measures two and a half feet in circumference, 

 and I was assured by the vicar of Glastonbury, Dr. Parfitt, 

 that it had been budding and blossoming since Christmas. 

 It blossoms a second time in May, and from these latter 

 flowers only is fruit produced. Formerly, the blossoms 

 were so highly valued that they were sold at Bristol, and 

 even exported to various parts of Europe, and the variety 

 is still propagated by grafts in the gardens of the curious, 

 but only on account of the strange efforts which it annually 

 makes to commence spring in mid-winter. 



Miss Strickland, in her "Lives of the Queens of England," 

 mentions that its branches were deemed worthy of being 

 presented to royalty. " Christmas," says Pere Cyprian, 

 " was always observed in this country, especially at the 

 King's palaces, with greater pomp than in any other realm in 

 Europe." Among other ancient ceremonies now forgotten, 



why he had not followed his directions, poor Peter, with the utmost 

 solemnity, assured him that " he had commenced the work, but at 

 the moment his pick-axe struck the root of the tree he received a 

 violent blow from some invisible hand, that made him stagger and 

 almost fall to the ground moreover, that on going home, he found 

 that just at the same hour, and he had no doubt, at the very same 

 instant, his wife had experienced a similar blow." After this his 

 master did not urge him further in the matter, but got some other 

 person to extirpate the mysterious tree, and the task was accom- 

 plished without any further evil result. Crofton Croker, who is 

 most learned in the superstitions of Ireland, remarks that, according 

 to the popular belief, " On May-eve the evil Elves seem to be par- 

 ticularly active and powerful : to those to whom they are inimical 

 they give a blow unperceived, the consequence of which is lameness." 

 There can be little doubt that these two superstitions are connected 

 in their origin with that recorded in the text respecting the Glaston- 

 bury Thorn. 



