202 BRITISH WOODLAND 



emperors decreed that Jerusalem should be known as 

 jElia, Capitolina, and that London should be called 

 Augusta. Neither decree took effect, except in official 

 correspondence, so indelibly do native names attach 

 themselves to localities. But Bedrichesworthe waived 

 its ancient title out of reverence to the royal martyr, and 

 has been known ever since as Bury St. Edmunds. (Note 

 that the Bury has no reference to interment, but simply 

 means 'burgh' or 'borough,' the town of St. Edmund.) 

 The Danes, these scourges of all our coasts, attacked 

 Bury in A.D. 1010, and burnt the monastery. The monks 

 escaped to London, carrying with them the remains of 

 St. Edmund. 



It is good to muse awhile in this quiet little church- 

 yard, hardly out of the roar of London, and to recall 

 some of the changes social, ecclesiastical, and political 

 which have taken place since these humble, venerable 

 walls were first reared. 



XLVII 



It is pretty safe to affirm that all the reflections which 

 British occur to the modern mind upon subjects of 

 woodland human interest are but echoes from the past. 

 They may find utterance in words, but all that can be 

 said has been written by thoughtful men of old. Thus 

 when one begins to speculate what would happen to these 

 islands of ours, now humming with industry and thronged 

 with folk, if agriculture and manufacture were suddenly 

 arrested and the bees were to desert the hive, he has only 

 to turn to Holy Writ or the classics to find that his train 

 of thought has been anticipated. ' Upon the land of my 

 people,' sang Isaiah, 'shall come up thorns and briers: 



