THE HAWTHORN. 93 



holiday, put off their gable suit for one day in the year, to 

 deck themselves with flowers and green branches, and after 

 all gain but little sympathy for their "maimed rights." 

 In the rural districts we may see, here and there, the tall 

 May-pole, standing all the year round, but never decked 

 with flowers, never made the centre of festivity. In a few 

 remote parishes, the poor farmer's boy yet rises earlier on 

 May morning than on other days, and hastens to attach a 

 branch of Hawthorn to the cottage-doors, claiming as a 

 reward, when the inmates are astir, a slice of bread and 

 cream ; and in some few towns and villages, principally in 

 the West of England, children on May-day carry round 

 from door to door, garlands of flowers decorated with birds' 

 eggs, and beg contributions of halfpence. But, as far as 

 regards legends, or the merry days of old, the Hawthorn 

 has fallen into the " sere and yellow leaf." It is never- 

 theless still a favourite with all. Not, as I have before 

 said, that it has great pretensions to elegance of form 

 or picturesque beauty ; but it possesses qualities which, 

 I may almost say, engage our affections. It is the 

 tutelary guardian of our fields, our orchards, and our 

 gardens ; and loves to grow and seems to thrive best 

 near the rural habitations of men. When the cottager sets 

 about inclosing his bit of garden-ground, the Hawthorn is 

 ready to crown his lowly fence with its protecting and 

 closely-woven boughs, which, with their thickest prickles, 

 form an almost impenetrable barrier round the little 

 domain. When arrived at maturity, its stoutest branches 

 are 'often hacked unmercifully, nearly through their whole 

 dimensions, and forcibly fixed in a direction contrary to 

 their natural growth ; yet the lacerated limbs, regardless 

 of this rude treatment, send forth their shoots as vigorously 

 as ever, and accommodate themselves to the humour or 

 convenience of the planter, with all the fidelity of a 

 spaniel. The Hawthorn may be considered, indeed, a 

 domesticated tree, that readily adapts itself to the wishes 

 and wants of man, requiring little care or attention during 



