AMENTIFERZ, 185 
stem, as Gilpin observes, is generally marked with brown, yellow, or silvery touches, 
which are peculiarly picturesque, as they are characteristic objects of imitation for 
the pencil, and as they contrast agreeably with the dark green hue of the foliage. 
Ancient poets do not appear to have sung the praises of the birch, though it is men- 
tioned by most of the modern poets. Shenstone introduces it in his “ Schoolmistress,” 
when alluding to the birchen rods :— 
“ And all in sight doth raise a birchen tree, 
Which Learning near her little dome did stow; 
Whilome a twig of small regard to see, 
Though now so wide, its waving branches flow, 
And work the simple vassal’s mickle love; 
For not a wind might curl the leaves that blew, 
But their limbs shuddered, and their pulse beat low, 
And as they look’d they found their horror grew, 
And shaped it into rods, and tingled at the view.” 
Phillips says :— 
“Even afflictive birch, 
Cursed by unlettered youth, distils 
A limpid current from her wounded back, 
Profuse of nursing sap.” 
And Leyden :— 
“ Sweet bird of the meadow, soft be thy rest; 
Thy mother will wake thee at morn from thy nest; 
She has made a soft nest, little redbreast, for thee, 
Of the leaves of the birch, and the moss of the tree.” 
The “birks of Invermay ” aspire to the interest of classic ground, and the verses 
by Burns, in which the following lines occur, are well known :— 
** Now simmer blinks on flowery braes, 
And o’er the crystal streamlet plays. 
Come, let us spend the lightsome days 
in the birks of Aberfeldy. 
Bonnie lassie, will ye go 
To the birks of Aberfeldy ? 
While o’er their heads the hazels hing, 
The little birdies blythely sing, 
Or lightly flit on wanton wing 
In the birks of Aberfeldy. 
Bonnie lassie, &c. 
The braes ascend like lofty wa’s, 
The foaming stream deep roaring fa’s, 
O’erhung wi’ fragrant spreading shaws, 
The birks of Aberfeldy. 
Bonnie lassie, de. 
VOL. VIII. BB 
