190 



THE HAWTHORN. 



tinguishing badge of the House of Tudor. After 

 the battle of Bosworth, in which Richard III. was 

 slain on Redmore Heath, and his body ignomi- 

 niously stripped, the crown was hidden by a 

 soldier in a Hawthorn Bush, but was soon found, 

 and carried back to Lord Stanley, Nvho placed it 

 on the head of his son-in-law, saluting him by 

 the title of Henry VII., while the -victorious army 

 sang Te Deum on the blood-stained heath. It 

 was in memory of the picturesque fact that the 

 red-berried Hawthorn once sheltered the crovra 

 of England, that the House of Tudor assumed 

 the device of a crown in a bush of fruited Haw- 

 thorn. The proverb of ^ Cleave to the crown 

 though it hang on a bush,' alludes to the same 

 circumstance." 



The sight of the Hawthorn always recalls images 

 of rural life ; but we must go back to a somewhat 

 remote period to find it invested with its full hon- 

 ours. During the reign of Henry VIIL, ^lay-sports 

 were the favourite diversion of all classes, not only 

 in the country, but even in London. On the eve 

 of May-day the citizens used to go in companies 

 to the neighbouring woods and groves, some to 

 Highgate or Hampstead, some to Greenwich, some 

 to Shooter's Hill ; there the night was spent in 

 cutting down green branches, in preparing the 

 May -pole, and in a variety of sports and pastimes. 

 On their return early in the morning, the revellers 

 adorned the ^lay-pole with flowers and foliage 

 from one end to the other, the pole itself being 

 previously painted with the most brilliantly varie- 

 gated colours. The pole was dragged to its des- 

 tination by a large number of oxen, each ox 

 having a nosegay of flowers tied to the tips of his 



