ELM TREE. 



137 



" Distort with peyne he laie upon the borne, 



Lyke sturdie ehns by storraes in uncothe wrythynges torne." 



Battle of Hastings. 



In another passage of the same poem, speaking of a 

 lady''s shape, he says it is 



" Tapre as ehnes that Goodricke's abbie shrove." 



Leigh Hunt, whose poetry always dwells upon the 

 more cheerful side of tilings, compares this tree to a 

 warrior before battle : 



" As I thought thus^ a neighbouring wood of elms 

 Was moved, and stirred and whispered loftily ; 

 Much like a pomp of warriors with plumed helms, 

 When some great general whom they long to see 

 Is heard behind them, coming in swift dignity." 



Nymphs, part ii. 



The Elm was in high esteem among the ancients : they 

 preferred it to every other as a prop for vines, and this 

 connexion is continually noticed by the poets. Spenser 

 calls it the " Vine-prop Elm.'' Harte, in the translation 

 of Statins, the " Nuptial Ehn.'' Fairfax, in his trans- 

 lation from Tasso, says — 



" The married elm fell with his fruitful vine." 



The lofty elm, with creeping vines o'erspread." 



Orger's Ovid. 



Milton, describing the innocent occupations of Adam 

 and Eve in Paradise, says — 



They led the vine 



To wed her elm ; she, spoused, about him twines 

 Her marriageable arms, and with her brings 

 Her doAvcr, the adopted clusters, to adorn 

 His barren leaves." 



