6o 
The Hawthorn. 
In fables, too ancient to fix their origin, this tree is said to 
have sprung from the lightning. The celebrated “ Glastonbury 
Thorn,” which was a variety of the common hawthorn, instead 
of blooming in May, blossomed in winter, and was firmly 
believed to blow regularly on Christmas-day. The original 
bush was said to have been the staff of St. Joseph of Arimathea 
— popularly supposed to have been the founder of the first 
Christian church in England. On his arrival at Glastonbury 
with a few companions (so runs the old legend), he determined 
to settle there, and, as a proof of the divinity of his mission, 
he struck his dry hawthorn staff into the ground, and imme¬ 
diately it put forth branches and blossomed. This happened 
on Christmas-day ; and ever afterwards, on the anniversary of 
the miracle, the tree, despite the coldness of the season, put 
forth flowers, until the Puritans cut it down. This did not, 
however, eradicate the superstition ; for a stock derived, or said 
to be derived, from the original, was planted in the neighbour¬ 
hood, and by many country folks is still steadfastly asserted 
to bloom on Twelfth-day—the old-style Christmas-day—as a 
protest against the alteration of the calendar. 
The flowers of this wonderful thorn were formerly exported 
as valuable relics; and in Collinson’s “ History of Somerset¬ 
shire ” it is stated that this tree was much sought after by the 
credulous ; and, though a common thorn, Oueen Anne, King 
James, and many of the nobility of the realm—even when the 
times of monkish superstition had ceased—gave large sums of 
money for small cuttings from the original. 
The progeny of this supernatural plant are said to retain the 
miraculous propensity ; and Mr. Wilkinson, of Burnley, speak¬ 
ing of some of the wonderful trees still existing in Lancashire, 
says that in his vicinity many persons will yet travel a con¬ 
siderable distance in order to witness the periodic blossoming. 
Miss Pratt tells of a hawthorn in the Arboretum of Kew 
Gardens which “ is often covered with its white clusters while 
the snow surrounds it.” 
Credulous as old Culpepper was, he refused to believe in so 
Papistical a legend, “since,” he remarks, “the like may be found 
in divers other places of this land.” He did not hesitate, 
however, to assign many marvellous powers to the hawthorn, 
gravely asserting that, “ if cloths and sponges be wet in the dis- 
