Thy popularity, and art become (Unless verse rescue thee awhile) a thing While thus through all the stages thou hast push'd Of treeship first a seedling, hid in grass; Then twig; then sapling; and as cent'ry roll'd Of girth enormous, with moss-cushion'd root WILLIAM COWPER, 1731-1800. THE GROANING ELM OF BADESLEY. The history of the Groaning Tree is this. About forty years ago, a cottager, who lived near the center of the village (Badesley, near Lymington), heard frequently a strange noise behind his house, like that of a person in extreme agony. Soon after it caught the attention of his wife, who was then confined to her bed. She was a timorous woman, and being greatly alarmed, her husband endeavored to persuade her that the noise she heard was only the bellowing of the stags in the forest. By degrees, however, the neighbors on all sides heard it, and the thing began to be much talked of. It was by this time plainly discovered that the groaning noise proceeded from an elm, which grew at the end of the garden. It was a young, vigorous tree, and, to all appearance, perfectly sound. In a few weeks the fame of the groaning tree was spread far and wide, and people from all parts flocked to it. Among others, it attracted the curiosity of the late Prince and Princess of Wales, who resided, at that time for the advantage of a sea-bath, at Pilewell, the seat of Sir James Worsley, which stood within a quarter of a mile of the groaning tree. Though the country people assigned many superstitious causes for this strange phenomonon, the naturalist could assign no physical one that was in any degree satisfactory. Some thought that it was owing to the twisting and friction of the roots. Others thought it proceeded from water, which had collected in the body of the tree-or perhaps from pent air. But no cause that was alleged appeared equal to the effect. In the mean time the tree did not always groan-sometimes disappointing * Frederick Prince of Wales, father of George III.-ED. its visitants; yet no cause could be assigned for its temporary cessations, either from seasons or weather. If any difference was observed, it was thought to groan least when the weather was wet, and most when it was clear and frosty; but the sound at all times seemed to arise from the root. Thus the groaning tree continued an object of astonishment during the space of eighteen or twenty months, to all the country around; and for the information of distant parts a pamphlet was drawn up containing a particular account of all the circumstances relating to it. At length the owner of it, a gentleman of the name of Forbes, making too rash an experiment to discover the cause, bored a hole in its trunk. After this it never groaned. It was then rooted up, with a further view to making a discovery; but still nothing appeared which led to any investigation of the cause. It was universally, however, believed that there was no trick in the affair, but that some natural cause really existed, though never understood. WILLIAM GILPIN, 1724-1807. YEW-TREES. There is a yew-tree, pride of Horton Vale, Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore, To Scotland's heaths; or those that crossed the sea To be destroyed. But worthier still of note Joined in one solemn and capacious grove; Huge trunks! and each particular trunk a growth Of intertwisted fibers serpentine, Up-coiling, and inveterately convolved- Nor uninformed with phantasy, and looks Of boughs, as if for festal purpose, decked With unrejoicing berries, ghostly shapes As in a natural temple scattered o'er To lie, and listen to the mountain flood LINES. FROM THE ICELANDIC EDDA. I know an ash, Named Ygg-drasill, A stately tree, With white dust strewed. Thence come the dews That wet the dales; It stands aye green Thence come the maids Who much do know; Three from the hall Beneath the tree; One they named Was, And Being next, The third Shall be, On the shield they cut. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. HENDERSON'S "Iceland." LIME-TREES. At Niestad, in the duchy of Wurtemburg, stood a lime, which was for many ages so remarkable that the city frequently took its denomination from it, being often called Neustadt ander grossen Linden, or Niestad near the Great Lime. Scarce any person passed near Niestad without visiting this tree; and many princes and great men did honor to it by building obelisks, columns, and monuments of various kinds around it. engraved with their arms and names, to which the dates were added, and often some device. Mr. Evelin, who procured copies of several of * Neustadt. these monumental inscriptions, tells us there were two hundred of them. The columns on which they were fixed served also to bear up the vast limbs of the tree, which began through age to become unwieldy. Thus this mighty plant stood many years in great state, the ornament of the town, the admiration of the country, and supported, as it were, by the princes of the empire. At length it felt the effects of war. Niestad was surrounded by an enemy, and the limbs of this venerable tree were mangled in wantonness by the besieging troops. Whether it still exists, I know not; but long after these injuries it stood a noble ruin, discovering, by the foundations of the several monuments, which formerly propped its spreading boughs, how far its limits had once extended. * I shall next celebrate the Lime of Cleves. This, also, was a tree of great magnificence. It grew in an open plain, just at the entrance of the city, and was thought an object worthy to exercise the taste of the magistracy. The burgomaster of his day had it surveyed with great accuracy, and trimmed into eight broad, pyramidal faces. Each corner was supported by a handsome stone pillar; and in the middle of the tree, among the branches, was cut a noble room, which the vast space contained within easily suffered, without injuring the regularity of any of the eight faces. To crown all, the top was curiously clipped into some kind of head, and adorned artificially, but in what manner, whether with the head of a lion, or a stag, a weather-cock, or a sun-dial, we are not told. It was something, however, in the highest style of Dutch taste. This tree was long the admiration and envy of all the states of Holland. WILLIAM GILPIN, 1724-1807. THE BIRCH-TREE. Rippling through thy branches goes the sunshine, Ovid in thee a pining Nymph had prisoned, Quivering to tell her woe, but, ah! dumb, dumb forever! While all the forest, witched with slumberous moonshine, Waiting the dew, with breath and pulse suspended I hear afar thy whispering, gleamy islands, And track thee wakeful still amid the wide-hung silence. Upon the brink of some wood-nestled lakelet, Thy foliage, like the tresses of a Dryad, Dripping about thy slim white stem, whose shadow Slopes quivering down the water's dusky quiet, Thou shrink'st, as on her bath's edge would some strolled Dryad. Thou art the go-between of rustic lovers; Thy white bark has their secrets in its keeping; Reuben writes here the happy name of Patience, Thou art to me like my beloved maiden, So frankly coy, so full of trembly confidences; Whether my heart with hope or sorrow tremble, J. R. LOWELL. THE HEMLOCK-TREE. FROM THE GERMAN, O hemlock-tree! O hemlock-tree! how faithful are thy branches! Green not alone in summer time, But in the winter's frost and rime! O hemlock-tree! O hemlock-tree! how faithful are thy branches! O maiden fair! O maiden fair! how faithless is thy bosom! And leave me in adversity O maiden fair! O maiden fair! how faithless is thy bosom ! The nightingale! the nightingale thou tak'st for thine example! So long as summer laughs she sings, But in the autumn spreads her wings; The nightingale! the nightingale thou tak'st for thine example! The meadow-brook, the meadow-brook is mirror of thy falsehood! It flows so long as falls the rain; In drought its springs soon dry again; The meadow-brook, the meadow-brook is mirror of thy falsehood! Anonymous. Translation of H. W. LONGFELLOW. |