132 



THE ASH. 



to the beauty of the landscape even in these loca- 

 lities ; or you may see it lifting aloft a wretched 

 broom-like head on a pale, disfigured stem, maim- 

 ed and scarred throughout its whole length by the 

 axe of the hard-handed farmer, who dreads the 

 noxious influence of its drippings on his meadows 

 and corn-lands ; but neither of these is the tree 

 which the lover of Nature pictures to himself 

 when he questions himself on his recollection of 

 the Ash. This must be a tree that enjoys^ in 

 common with many of its brethren, the beauties 

 of the haunts I have described, not simply living 

 and flourishing, but actually delighting in the 

 brilliant sparkling of the w^ater, watching the 

 ousel as he bathes in his rapid flight, gracefully 

 sweeping its branches over the stream, climbing 

 up the sides of the steep hill, or endeavouring to 

 peep at what is passing in the world beyond. 

 This is the Ash" of the Poet and the Vainter^ 

 and something of these the true Naturalist must 

 be, though he is neither cunning to touch the 

 lyre nor handle the pencil — though unable in any 

 way to give expression to his thoughts. 



" Here amid the brook, 



Grey as the stone to which it chiiig, half root, 



Half trunk, the young Ash rises from the rock : 



And there the parent lifts its lofty head, 



And spreads its graceful boughs ; the passing wind 



With twinkling motion lifts the silent leaves, 1 



And shakes its rattling tufts." 



SOUTHEY. 



The Ash w^as wtU known to the Greeks, who 

 called it melea. Homer arms his heroes with an - 

 ashen spear, and Cupid's arrows were originally 

 m^ade of the same wood, though he afterwards 

 stood indebted to a less cheerful tree, the Cypress. 



