THE LAND OE BLACKBERRIES. 
120 
quently forms roots from joints along the stem, when 
these trail on the ground, or arch over, so as to have 
their tops entangled with moist herbage. 
Now a right good plant is this our wayside bramble, 
and one deserving a nobler vindicator than we. It 
grows bravely and endures all weathers; it sits beside 
the old oaks, and sees age come down and whiten their 
brows, keeping ever youthful and jovial itself. Renowned 
in story, from the time w T hen it caught the garments of 
Demosthenes, as he fled, coward-like, from the field ;* or 
when it alleviated, with its rich mellowness, the asperity 
of the Baptist's “locusts and wild honey;" or was 
strewed over the graves of Spartan heroes; or wove 
tassels of leaves and rose-shaped blossoms over the 
skeletons of Alexander's frozen army; or over the ghastly 
remains of humanity in Odin's Wood. Bair and wel¬ 
come art thou, O humble and unambitious bramble, as 
when thou wert mingled with the earliest offerings of 
herbs, or scattered on the green altars of the ancient 
Gauls ! Beautiful still, as when mingled with iEsop's 
happy gift,f when covered with elegies in deification of 
Rosalind, or when nodding a response to Wordsworth, 
when he so sweetly sang,-— 
“ I heard a thousand blended notes, 
While in a grove I sat reclined, 
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts 
Bring sad thoughts to the mind. 
* Holland’s “ Plutarch,” p. 765. 
f dEsop made an offering of flowers to the god Mercury, and 
was rewarded with the gift of inventing fables. 
K 
