More rugged than need was. Among the woods, 
And o’er the pathless rocks, I forced my way, 
Until at length I came to one dear nook 
Unvisited, where not a broken bough 
Droop’d with its wither'd leaves, ungracious sign 
Of devastation; but the hazels rose 
Tall and erect, with milk-white clusters hung — 
A virgin scene ! A little while I stood, 
Breathing with such suppression of the heart 
As joy delights in ; and with wise restraint 
Voluptuous, fearless of a rival, eyed 
The banquet — or beneath the trees I sate 
Among the flowers, and with the flowers I play’d. 
——“ Then up I rose, 
And dragg’d to earth both branch and bough, with crash 
And merciless ravage; and the shady nook 
Of hazels, and the green and mossy bower, 
Deformed and sullied, patiently gave up 
Their quiet being.” 
The hazel grows wild in almost every part of Great 
Britain, but it most prefers a sandy soil, and cold 
mountainous situations; indeed, it ranks amongst 
those hardy trees which are found in very high lati¬ 
tudes. It also thrives well, says Evelyn, “ where 
quarries of limestone lie underneath, as at Hazelbury 
