THE HEDGE-BANKS OF DEVON AND CORNWALL. 37 
ment in Germany as in England/ ' and which the great kingdoms 
of the Heptarchy so signally want. 
It may be asked, Why, if these massive hedges belong to the 
British economy, are they not found through the country at large ? 
Must we suppose the Roman legions or Saxon hordes levelled 
them elsewhere ? 
Now that question equally applies to any other period of time : 
you will see this astute inquiry gather strength as it rolls along. 
Suppose it were affirmed that these hedge-banks first became a 
feature of the land — say in the twelfth century — would you not 
wonder what the twelfth- century folk were about, building away 
so busily in one corner of the kingdom ? 
The question becomes more urgent than ever, and less un- 
answerable than before. Why were these sturdy labours confined 
to Devon and Cornwall ? You say the Atlantic winds may have 
something to do with it. That will scarcely do; for in the 
sheltered valleys the most ponderous earthworks are found. 
More likely it was an outcome of the peculiar genius of the 
Cornu-Eritons, some of whom passed over to Ireland during the 
Eelgic invasion. 
Eut in whatever age, or by whomsoever built, how beautiful, 
how interesting, and how useful too, are these substantial legacies 
of the long past ! Sweep them away, and the flora and fauna of 
the west would to some extent be changed. 
An old Devonshire hedge — a venerable earthwork, over which 
have rolled the summer suns and winter storms of centuries, "from 
the days of the Wolf hard or the God wine who first raised it," 
whose sides are so well guarded, so closely embraced by the roots 
of oak, and ash, and hazel interlacing each other, which renders 
the rustic edifice incomparably stronger than it was the first day it 
was built — such a mound has become a trusty guardian, a natural 
fastness of the country-side, a sheltered home, a chosen habitat, for 
plants and insects, which invest the old hedge-bank with an in- 
terest and a peculiar spell of beauty at every season of the year. 
The periwinkle grows wild in Norfolk woods, and we have 
found an occasional patch or two trailing over the Cornish hedge, 
far from any habitation ; but no doubt it marks the site of some 
ruined cottage, and in this case is merely a garden flower run 
wild. The strawberry seems to find its native place on the west- 
country hedge-bank, and is mentioned by Thomas Fuller (about 
