60 



THE HOLLY. 



There 's not a breeze — no breath of air — 

 Yet here — and there — and everywhere — 

 Along the floor, beneath the shade, 

 By these embowering Hollies made, 

 The leaves in myriads jump and spring, 

 As if with pipes and music rare, 

 Some Robin Goodfellow were there, 

 And all those leaves, in festive glee 

 Were dancing to the minstrelsy." 



Wordsworth. 



The leaf, having a very tough and durable fibre, 

 takes a long while to decay, and may frequently 

 be picked up, a frame filled in with network en- 

 tirely divested of cuticle. 



As an ornament of the landscape, Gilpin con- 

 siders the Holly to be a tree of singular beauty, 

 especially in forests, where, he says, mixed 

 with Oak or Ash, or other trees of the wood, it 

 contributes to form the most beautiful scenes ; 

 blending itself with the trunks and skeletons of the 

 vdnter, or with the varied greens of summer. In 

 many situations it appears to great advantage, but 

 particularly growing round the stem, as it often 

 does, of som.e noble Oak on the foreground, and 

 filling up all the space to his lower boughs. In 

 summer it is a fine appendage ; and in autumn 

 its brilliant leaf and scarlet berry make a pleasing 

 mixture with the wrinkled bark and hoary moss 

 and auburn leaves of the venerable tree which it 

 encircles." The Holly is scarcely less ornamental 

 in the shrubbery and lawn than in the wild wood- 

 land, for in summer its foliage contrasts well with 

 that of every other tree and with the turf on j 

 which it rises ; and in winter, when the greater ' 

 part of the vegetable world is content for a while 

 to forego its garniture, it stands out pre-eminently 

 conspicuous and beautiful. When the ground is 



