THE HAWTHORX. 



203 



Or brarich : each porch, each door, ere this. 



An ark. a taberriacle is ; 



Made up of Whitethorn neatly interwove." 



Herrick. 



" From the moist meadow to the wither'd hill, 

 Led OT the breeze, the vivid verdure runs. 

 And swells, ana deepens, to the cherish'd eye. 

 The Hawthorn whitens ; and the juicy groves 

 Put lortli their buds, unfolding by degrees. 

 Till the whole leafy forest stands display'd 

 In full luxuriance to the sighina' Q-ales."' 



Thomson. 



" The Hawthorn-bush, with seats beneath the shade 

 For talking age and whispering lovers made.'" 



Goldsmith. 



" From the Whitethorn the May-flower shed 

 Its dewy fragrance round our head." 



Scott. 



" The Gorse is yellow on the heath, 

 The banks vriih Speedwell floAvers are gay ; 

 The Oak is budding, and beneath, 

 The Hawthorn soon shall wear the wreath. 

 The silver wreath of May.'"' 



Charlotte S^iith. 



The milk-white Thorn that scents the evening gale." 



Burns. 



" Yon reverend Hawthorns, hardened to the rod 

 Of winter storms, yet budding cheerfully."' 



Wordsworth. 



The Hawthorn, according to some etymologists, 

 is so called from its fruit, or haic .\ot, if Booth 

 be correct, the tree gives the name to the fruit ; 

 the first syllable of the word being a corruption 

 of hage, or IicFg, and the Avord itself signifies a 

 hedge-flwr/h^ Crataegus and Oxyacanfha, to 



* Scott, in his Discovery of Witc/icraft, calls it Hay-thorn.*" 

 Cratsegus is from the Greek y.ociro:^ strengtJi : Oxyacantha signities 

 sliarp-tliorn ; Pyracantha,yz€rj/-//20/"/2. 



