Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

last year, is supposed to be upwards of one thousand years old, according to Strutt. It is near Magna Charta Island, and under its shade Henry VIII. is said to have met Anna Boleyn.

I have also seen the Buckland Yew near Dover. It is evidently a tree of very great age, and has a singular appearance. Mr. Loudon gives a figure of it in his "Arboretum Britannicum."

Perhaps the finest collection of Yews, and Mr. Loudon thinks the most extraordinary in the world, are now flourishing at Elvaston Castle, near Derby. The late Lord Harrington, whose fine taste in horticulture was undoubted, purchased venerable Yew-trees at considerable distances from his Seat, and, at a great expense, conveyed them to it. I believe I am correct in stating that there was not a single failure in transplanting these trees. They were grouped about rockwork and other places in the fine gardens at Elvaston Castle, and, as I said, are the finest collection to be met with either in England or elsewhere, considering how recently many of them have been planted or rather transplanted.

Decandolle thinks that of all the European species of trees the Yew attains the greatest age. According to his calculations, thirty centuries must be assigned as the age of the Yew at Braburne in Kent, and from twenty-five to twenty-six centuries to that at Fortingal. There is also a very ancient one at Crewhurst in Surrey, and another at Studley Park, Yorkshire.

YEW AT RICHMOND.

251

In a portion of the grounds which formerly were attached to the Old Palace of Richmond in Surrey, and which are now leased by the Crown to my kind and excellent friend, Dr. Julius, a most interesting and flourishing Yew-tree is still to be seen. It has a circumference of about eleven feet, and its branches cover an area of ground of considerable extent. This tree is mentioned in the Report of the Parliamentary Commissioners in 1649, and such is the care taken of, and the interest attached to it, that in all the old and more recent Crown leases of the property on which it stands, a clause is inserted, under which the lease may be forfeited should this Yew be in any way cut, lopped, or mutilated

It is difficult to ascertain the age of the tree. The -Old Palace is mentioned in Doomsday Book, and therefore it is not impossible that the tree existed before the reign of William the Conqueror, and its appearance will bear out this supposition, especially with reference to other old Yews.

"O Reader! hast thou ever stood to see
The Holly-tree?

The eye, that contemplates it well, perceives
Its glossy leaves

Ordered by an intelligence, so wise

As might confound the Atheist's sophistries.

Below a circling fence its leaves are seen,
Wrinkled and sheen:

No grazing cattle through their prickly round

Can reach to wound;

But as they grow where nothing is to fear,

Smooth and unarm'd the pointless leaves appear." *

Of the several evergreen trees that are now found in our Island, the Holly is the only one that claims the undoubted right of being a native. Like some other trees, it does not always accord with the Linnæan System, as it has generally hermaphrodite, and consequently fruitful blossoms; but sometimes it bears only male bloom, and these plants are of course unfruitful. When this is the case, the country people distinguish the tree by the name of the Holm. It is occasionally killed by Mice, who bark its roots, and even its branches, for want of other food, when the ground is covered with snow, but the severest frosts of our country do it no injury, although this tree is not found far north. It is a native of Denmark, but not of Sweden, and probably for this reason. Forests of Pines, Firs, and Junipers abound in the most northern parts of Europe. Consequently the shelter of the Holly is not there of so much consequence as with us, who have naturally no other evergreen tree.

It is found most plentifully where the ground is left in an uncultivated state, and therefore our Forests are generally ornamented with it. The wood of this tree being exceedingly white, and retaining its colour, was formerly much valued for inlaying and veneering, * SOUTHEY,

VALUE ATTACHED TO THE HOLLY.

253

[ocr errors]

and its quality of not warping recommends it to the workmen who cut blocks for printers on linen or paper. In former times it was valued for purposes very different. In the Forest Laws of Canute it was enacted: "No man shall lay hands upon any wood or underwood without leave of the Officers of the Forest; but if any one shall be found offending against this law, he shall be accounted guilty of a breach of the Royal Chase; but if any one shall cut a Hollytree (ilicem) or any other tree that supplies food to the beasts of the Chase, he shall pay twenty shillings to the King, besides being guilty of a breach of the Royal Chase.'

Though this is a severe fine considering the value of money in Canute's time, yet his Forest Laws are mild when compared with the sanguinary edicts of his savage Norman successors.

The berries of this tree alone would furnish but a very small quantity of food, provided the birds would suffer them to fall, and whilst it is growing, it is too well defended by its sharp species; but in severe winters, foresters cut down branches, on which, when withered, the Deer browse, and by this means find subsistence till milder weather arrives. The custom is continued to this day, I believe, in Epping Forest.

In some parts of England, a very pleasing effect arises from such Hollies as grow naturally in hedges, being suffered to shoot up into standards; thus they become very ornamental, without any trouble or ex

pense, and cheer the eye with their verdure during the dead, leafless months, affording, also, when grown large, a shelter for Cattle. It is also pleasing to think what a retreat they furnish for flocks of Linnets, Goldfinches, and many other small birds, which, by a kind Providence, are directed to retire to us in Winter from the severity of more northern climates, thus shewing in their migrations a forethought which cannot but raise our wonder and admiration. As the notes of small birds only are adapted to please the human ear, may we not infer from it that they are placed, in a particular manner, under the protection of man, when we see that cultivation affords them shelter, and encrease of food, and at the same time drives away the larger kinds. It is to be regretted, however, that that delightful songster, the Lark, meets but with little compassion, and yet he sings nearer Heaven than any other bird. If persons refrained from eating them, or ordering them of their Poulterers, their charming notes would be more frequently heard.

The Holly is a favourite tree, and so it will be, like the Thorn and the Box, with every one who either plants with taste or has an eye to what is beautiful and picturesque in Nature. It is always to be admired, whether as a single tree, or for subdividing fields and gardens. In single trees, the beauty of the glossy foliage, the scarlet berries, and the shape of the plant when unmutilated, as it so seldom is, must attract

« AnteriorContinuar »