162 FLORA DOMESTIC A. 



shrub yields to none of them. It is very common in every 

 part of England ; is to be seen in every hedge : 



" And every shepherd tells his tale 

 Under the hawthorn in the dale." 



MILTON, L'ALLEGRO. 



We must not, however, let our fancies run so riot, as to 

 suppose that the poet here intends that we should con- 

 ceive a beautiful and youthful nymph sitting by the shep- 

 herd's side, to whom he is pouring forth his fond tale of 

 love; for, in very truth, the real image present in the 

 poet's mind was simply that of a shepherd telling his tale, 

 or, in unpoetic language, counting his sheep, as he lies 

 extended in the shade of this tree ; and to those who take 

 pleasure in a country life, and rural associations, perhaps 

 this image will appear scarcely less poetical, or less pleas- 

 ing, than the former interpretation, which many readers 

 give to this passage at first sight. 



This tree not only delights our senses with its beauty 

 and perfume, and affords a cooling shade in sunny fields, 

 a benevolence for which it has been celebrated by many 

 of our best poets, but it also harbours the little birds 

 which cheer us with their joyous music. The thrush, 

 and many others, feed in winter on its berries, the bright 

 scarlet haws. A decoction of the bark yields a yellow 

 dye: the wood is used for axle-trees and tool-handles. 

 " The root of an old Thorn," says Evelyn, " is excellent 

 for boxes and combs. When planted single, it rises with 

 a stem big enough for the use of the turner ; and the 

 wood is scarcely inferior to box." 



The Glastonbury variety, commonly called the Glaston- 

 bury Thorn, usually flowers in January or February ; but 

 it is sometimes in blossom on Christmas-day. In many 

 countries the peasants eat the berries of the Hawthorn ; 

 and the Kamschatkadales make a wine from them. 



