318 



On Hedges and Hedge Rows. 



the tenements which, in all probability, were either attached to, or 

 had some kind of connexion with, these enclosures, have been swept 

 away, or have long since crumbled into dust. 



Those hedges then which surround the most ancient enclosures 

 through the greater part of England (or speaking locally of Wilts), 

 I assume to be the work of the Saxons, and to have been com- 

 menced at an early period of their occupation of Britain ; and 

 may be taken, I think, as the first attempt of that enterprizing 

 race to fix themselves on the soil of a country which their arms, 

 combined with their diplomacy, had won from a less warlike — or 

 at least from a less united people. Speaking generally of the 

 oldest hedges I have examined in England, this is all the evidence 

 of their history that I have collected ; but we gather from nearly 

 all the writers of antiquity and classic authors, that the history of 

 hedges dates back to the earliest times : for in addition to the 

 frequent mention of hedges in the Bible (sometimes figuratively, 

 but often literally), with which all will be familiar, some may 

 remember the description given by Homer of the gardens of 

 Alcinous, where so far as my research has led me, the word trans- 

 lated " hedge " occurs for the first time in classic history ; and 

 although I am not going to say where this garden was situated, 

 yet in the next instance in which we find the Old Poet writing 

 about hedges, the locality is more clearly stated. This occurs 

 when Ulysses 1 after the famous Trojan war returned to his home 

 and found his father " the good Laertes," employed in making 

 preparations for a hedge, to furnish which his servants had gone 

 to the woods to collect young thorns : now as the Greek name for 

 our hawthorn was " pyracantha," (the name made use of by 

 Homer) we may fairly infer that either the common hawthorn or 

 some allied species, was intended by " Laertes " for his hedge : if 

 this was so, which is very probable, we must ascribe to the 

 " Crataegus " family the earliest as well as the latest place in the 

 formation of hedges. 



That the Romans planted hedges extensively, we have proof 

 abundant in the works of those of their authors who treated on 



1 Odyssey, Lib. xxiy. 



