The Persians and Moguls consider it to be discutient and attenuant ; and the Yytians prescribe an in- 
fusion of it, in conjunction with other medicines, as a cordial and stimulant in lethargic cases, in palsy, and 
in certain stages of typhus fever. In consequence of the immense flow of saliva that it is capable of pro- 
ducing, “ inflammations and congestions of the neighbouring parts are relieved. Hence it has been found ! 
useful, when chewed, in some kinds of head-ache, chronic ophthalmia, and rheumatic affections of the face, j 
and, by its direct stimulus, in paralysis of the tongue and muscles of the throat.” This drug is often ' 
adulterated with the roots of Achillea Plarmica and Chrysanthemum frutescem. 
The following is a brief extract concerning the festivities formerly observed on Christmas day at the 
Inner Temple. Service in the church being ended, the gentlemen presently repaired into the hall and ; 
breakfasted on brawn, mustard, and malmsey. At the first course, at dinner, was served up a fair and large 
boreshead upon a silver platter, with minstralsye. This custom is still observed at Queen’s College, Oxford, 
and tradition represents this usage as a commemoration of an act of valour performed by a student of the 1 
college, who while walking in the neighbouring forest of Shotover and reading Aristotle, was suddenly j I 
attacked by a wild boar. The furious beast came open mouthed upon the youth, who, however, very 
courageously, and with a happy presence of mind, is said to have f rammed in the volume/ and cried Graicum j 
est, fairly choking the savage with the sage.® 
On Christmas-eve, (new-style,) 1753, a vast concourse of people attended the noted Glastonbury thorn, j 
but to their great disappointment there was no appearance of its blowing, which made them watch it narrowly j 
the 5th of January, the Christmas-day (old style,) when it blowed as usual. — London Evening Post. 
On the same evening, at Quainton, in Buckinghamshire, about two thousand people went, with lanterns I 
and candles, to view a blackthorn in that neighbourhood, and which was remembered to be a slip from the 
famous Glastonbury thorn, and that it always budded on the 24th, was full blown the next day, and went all 
off at night. The people finding no appearance of a bud, it was agreed by all, that December 25 (new I 
style) could not be the right Christmas-day, and accordingly refused going to Church, and treating their I 
friends on that day as usual : at length the affair became so serious, that the ministers of the neighbouring 
villages, in order to appease them, thought it prudent to give notice, that the Old Christmas-day should be 
kept as before. 
The Abbey of Glastonbury in Somersetshire, now a heap of ruins, and of whose origin none but vague ; h 
memorials exist, was said, by the monks, to have been the residence of Joseph of Arimathea. According to 
their legend, he came to Britain accompanied by eleven followers, and raised to the memory of the Virgin 
the first Christian temple erected in this country. The celebrated hawthorn bush is said to have sprung i 
from a staff which Joseph stuck into the ground on Christmas-day, which, blossoming immediately, attested ( 
the approbation of God to his mission, as the blooming of Aaron’s rod confirmed the priesthood to the ! 
family of Israel, while the yearly blooming of this hawthorn, at this unusual season, was regarded by the 
monks as sufficient confirmation of the truth of their statement. A fable propagated probably by some who 
had an interest in attaching sacredness to the Abbey and its precincts, easily obtained belief in those super- j 
stitious times, when all that was not evident to the senses was recognised as miraculous. And this thorn, j 
which is certainly interesting from its singularity, was regarded formerly almost universally with blind 
veneration. 
The flowering of the Glastonbury thorn was once deemed so great a wonder, that our merchants j 
annually exported its blossoms into foreign countries, for the benefit of the curious. The original tree of 
the Abbey garden was partly cut down in the reign of Elizabeth by the Puritans, who in their pious zeal to 
clear away the superstitions of the land, were too prone to destroy anything, however valuable, to which a j 
legend was attached. The other part was cut down during the Great Rebellion. At that time, however, a 
number of plants derived from the original stock were in existence. 
It is now well know that the Glastonbury hawthorn is not regular in the day of putting forth its bios- j 
soms ; and although it flowers in December, January, or February, this occurs as often in the last as in the i 
first-named month. Cuttings taken from this thorn, have retained their peculiarity of bearing blossoms in 
winter, and a hawthorn in the arboretum of Kew gardens, is often covered with its white clusters while the j 
snow surrounds it. 
* Wade’s Walks in Oxford. 
