5° 
The Hawthorn. 
as denoting the donor’s desire to receive from the object of his 
affection that token of love denominated a kiss. 
In France, the hawthorn, amongst other suggestive titles, is 
generally designated L'Epme noble , from the belief that it 
furnished the crown of thorns which was placed upon the 
Saviour’s head previous to His crucifixion. 
Singular to relate, unlike those of the roses, the thorns from 
which this bush receives its common appellation, are often made 
to disappear under the effects of cultivation. 
Ronsard—sometimes styled the French Chaucer wrote a 
beautiful address to the hawthorn, thus faithfully rendered. 
“ Fair hawthorn flowering, 
With green shade bowering 
Along this lovely shade; 
To thy foot around 
With his long arms wound 
A wild vine has mantled thee o’er. 
“ In armies twain, 
Red ants have ta’en 
Their fortress beneath thy stock; 
And in clefts of thy trunk 
Tiny bees have sunk 
A cell where honey they lock. 
“ In merry Spring-tide, 
When to woo his bride 
The nightingale comes again, 
Thy boughs among 
He warbles his song, 
That lightens a lover’s pain. 
***** 
“Gentle hawthorn, thrive, 
And, for ever alive, 
May’st thou blossom as now in thy prime; 
By the wind unbroke, 
And the thunder-stroke, 
Unspoiled by the axe of time.” 
Having heard what has been said of this shrub by the 
French, let us hear what our own dear old English Chaucer 
has to say about it. In his quaint, antique phraseology he 
frequently alludes to its beauties; thus, in his “ Court of Love, 
does he tell how 
“ Furth goth all the Courte, both most and lest, 
To fetche the flouris freshe, and braunche and blome, 
And namely hauthome brought both page and grome, 
With freshe garlandis partly blew and white, 
And than rejoisin in their grete delight.” 
Then he still more sweetly sings : 
“Amongst the many buds proclaiming May 
(Decking the meads in holiday array, 
Striving who shall surpass in bravery) 
Mark the fair blooming of the hawthorn tree; 
Who, finely clothdd in a robe of white, 
Feeds full the wanton eye with May’s delight, 
Yet for the bravery that she is in 
Doth neither handle card nor wheel to spin, 
Nor changeth robes but twice ; is never seen 
In other colours than in white or green. 
