HAWTHOKN. 263 



thorn-bush, as an instrument with which they 

 might impose on the credulous; thus, in 

 some parts of France, the country people 

 affirm to you in good faith, that the hawthorn 

 groans and sighs on the evening of Good 

 Friday ; and on this superstition, they have 

 made it the emblem of lamentation. There 

 are others, who gravely adorn their hats with 

 a bunch of hawthorn, in the belief, that 

 during a storm, the thunder will not dare to 

 reach them from respect to their head-dress. 

 It is also related, that on the morning follow- 

 ing the horrible massacre of St. Bartholomew 

 a hawthorn was seen to blossom in the 

 church-yard of St. Innocent, in Paris, which 

 is now converted into the hall or great 

 market. It is hardly necessary to state, how 

 differently the two parties interpreted this 

 phenomenon. 



We have also our Glastonbury thorn stories, 

 to match those of our neighbours. Sanctified 

 deceit affirmed, that this thorn was the iden- 

 tical staff of Joseph of Arimathea, the coun- 

 sellor, who buried Christ; who, according to 

 the tradition of the abbey of Glastonbury, 

 attended by twelve companions came over 

 into Britain, and founded, in honour of the 

 blessed Virgin, the first Christian church in 

 this island. As a proof of his mission, he is 



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