HAWTHORN. 
Few trees exceed the common Hawthorn 
in beauty, during the season of its bloom. 
Its blossoms have been justly compared to 
those of the myrtle : they are admirable also 
for their abundance, and for their exquisite 
fragrance. This shrub usually flowers in 
May; and being the handsomest then, or 
perhaps at any time wild in our fields, has 
obtained the name of May, or May-bush. 
The country people deck their houses and 
churches with the blossoms on May-day, as 
they do with holly at Christmas. 
There are many species of Hawthorn. 
India has its Hawthorn: America, China, 
Siberia, have each their Hawthorn : several 
are Europeans: but our own British shrub 
yields to none of them. It is very common 
in every part of England; is to be seen in 
every hedge : 
*■ And every shepherd tells his tale* 
Under the hawthorn in the dale.” 
Milton. 
This tree not only delights our senses with its 
beauty and perfume, and affords a cooling 
shade in sunny fields, a benevolence for which 
* That is, he counts his sheep, as he lies extended 
in the shade of this tree. 
