THE HAWTHORN. 



209 



some of these twigs, and found, in the course of 

 two or three years, that they produced beautiful 

 weeping branches.* 



It has already been said that the varieties of 

 the Hawthorn are very numerous, and no less 

 strongly marked. Difference of soil and situation 

 produces yet more remarkable contrasts. A bushy 

 tree in the rich lowlands, it becomes gnarled, rag- 

 ged, and fantastic in form, as it creeps up the 

 mountains, and finally dwindles into a mere stunt- 

 ed and knotted shrub. 



" There is a Thorn — it looks so old — 



In truth you 'd find it hard to say ^ 

 How it could ever have been young, 



It looks so old and grey. 

 Not higher than a two years' child. 



It stands erect, this aged Thorn ; 

 No leaves it has, no prickly points ; 

 It is a mass of knotted joints, 



A wretched thing forlorn. 

 It stands erect, and like a stone 

 With lichens it is overgrown. 



Like rock or stone, it is overgrown 



With lichens to the very top, 

 And hung with heavy tufts of moss, 



A melancholy crop : 

 Up from the earth these mosses creep. 



And this poor Thorn they clasp it round, 

 So close, you 'd say that they are bent, 

 With plain and manifest intent, 



To drag it to the ground ; 

 And all have joined in one endeavour, 

 To bury this poor Thorn for ever." 



Wordsworth. 



It is difficult to imagine that this Thorn so 

 old and grey," had it stood on the village-green 

 beneath, might have found a place in the same 



* Similar results followed from budding, or grafting, from the tufts 

 produced by the Elm (Ulmus campestris), 



P 



