392 t Proc - B.N.F.C. 



reason we know not, it was a tree of evil omen, and was 

 employed to make the torches carried at funerals. Our poets 

 have made the Willow the symbol of despairing woe : Spencer 

 makes it the part of the forlorn ; Shakspere represents the 

 doomed Queen of Carthage standing 



" with a willow in her hand 

 upon the wild sea banks ; " 

 and Her rick says 



" As beasts unto the altars go 

 with garlands dressed, so I 

 will, with my willow wreath also, 

 come forth and sweetly die." 



The Cypress is a tree also associated with sad and sombre 

 feelings, and was dedicated by the Romans to Pluto, because 

 when once cut into it never grows again. Its dark solemn 

 appearance certainly renders it an appropriate memorial in the 

 churchyard. Cole, an old writer, says : — " Cypresse garlands 

 are of great account at funerals amongst the gentler sort, but 

 Rosemary and Bayes are used by the commons both at funerals 

 and weddings. They are plants which fade not a good while 

 after they are gathered . . . and intimate that the 

 remembrance of the present solemnity might not die presently." 



The custom of putting up Holly, &c, in houses and churches 

 is one of great antiquity, a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine 

 in 1767, says : — It seems very probable that the origin or first 

 hint of the ancient custom of dressing our churches and 

 houses at Christmas with greens was owing to, or taken from 

 certain expressions in the following prophecies of the coming 

 of our Saviour. 



" Behold the day shall come, saith the Lord, and I will raise 

 unto David a righteous branch." (Jeremiah 23, 5.) 



" For behold I will bring forth my servant the branch." 

 (Zech. 3, 8.) 



Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Behold the man 

 whose name is the Branch, and he shall grow out of his place." 

 (Zech. vi. 12.) 





