216 <felU 2Fm* in 



tree can mingle, solitary in the midst of its sylvan 

 brotherhood, having no communion in its stateliness, 

 either with the oak, over which long ages have passed, or 

 with the sapling of yesterday. Thoughts of home and kin- 

 dred are blended with that other tree, to which the lovers 

 of forest scenery make a pilgrimage the seven Sisters, 

 for such is the name of a contiguous tree, with several 

 columns, which, upspringing from the same root, are 

 seen to mingle their leaves and branches. The bird which 

 confides her nest in spring to the sheltering boughs 

 of the one, teaches her young to nestle among the opening 

 leaves of the other ; so closely are they entwined, that a 

 squirrel would find it difficult to make his way between 

 them. We know not why the cognomen which distin- 

 guishes this favourite tree was given, or the period of 

 its greatest perfection, whether it arose from out the 

 earth in Saxon or Norman times, or whether seven 

 ladies of a Ducal family, sisters in birth and love, gave 

 that fond name to the noble tree, because of its inter- 

 woven stems. 



