Him, and made Him a crown of the branches of the Albespyne,
that is, White Thorn, which grew in the same garden, and set it on
His head.
And therefore hath the White Thorn many
virtues. For he that beareth a branch thereof, no thunder or
manner of tempest may hurt him: and in the house that it is in
may no evil spirit enter."—A Roman Catholic legend relates that
when the Holy Crown blossomed afresh, whilst the victorious
Charlemagne knelt before it, the scent of Hawthorn filled the air.
The Crown of Thorns was given up to St. Louis of France by the
Venetians, and placed by him in the Sainte Chapelle, which he built
in Paris. The Feast of the Susception of the Holy Crown is
observed at the church of Notre Dame, in Paris, in honour of this
cherished relic. The Crown of Thorns is enclosed within a glass
circle, which a priest holds in his hands; he passes before the kneel-
ing devotees, who are ranged outside the altar rail, and offers the
crown to them to be kissed. The Norman peasant constantly wears
a sprig of Hawthorn in his cap, from the belief that Christ's crown
was woven of it.The French have a curious tradition that when
Christ was one day resting in a wood, after having escaped from a
pursuit by the Jews, the magpies came and covered Him all over
with Thorns, which the kindly swallows (poules de Dieu) perceived,
and hastened to remove. A swallow is also said to have taken
away the Crown of Thorns at the Crucifixion.-The Hawthorn
is the distinguishing badge of the royal house of Tudor. When
Richard III. was slain at Bosworth, his body was plundered of its
armour and ornaments. The crown was hidden by a soldier in a
Hawthorn-bush, but was soon found and carried back to Lord
Stanley, who, placing it on the head of his son-in-law, saluted him
as King Henry VII. To commemorate this picturesque incident,
the house of Tudor assumed the device of a crown in a bush of
fruited Hawthorn. The proverb of "Cleave to the crown, though
it hang on a bush," alludes to the same circumstance. The
Hawthorn has for centuries borne in England the favourite name
of "May," from its flowering in that month:

"Between the leaves the silver Whitethorn shows
Its dewy blossoms pure as mountain snows."

In olden times, very early on May-day morning, lads and lasses repaired to the woods and hedgerows, and returned, soon after sunrise, laden with posies of flowers, and boughs of blooming Hawthorn, with which to decorate the churches and houses: even in London boughs of May were freely suspended over the citizens' doorways. Chaucer tells us how:

"Furth goth all the Courte, both most and lest,

To fetche the flouris freshe, and braunche, and blome,
And namely Hawthorne brought both page and grome,
With freshe garlandis partly blew and white,

And than rejoisin in their grete delighte.”

In Lancashire, at the present day, the Mayers still, in some districts, go from door to door, and sing:

"We have been rambling all this night,

And almost all this day;

And now returned back again,

We've brought you a branch of May.

"A branch of May we have brought you,
And at your door it stands ;

It is but a sprout, but it's well budded out

By the work of our Lord's hands."

Aubrey, writing in 1686, records that at Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, the people were accustomed on May-eve to go into the park and procure a number of Hawthorn-trees, which they set before their doors. In Huntingdonshire, on May-day morn, the young men used formerly to place, at sunrise, a branch of Hawthorn in blossom, before the door of anyone they wished to honour. A curious superstition survives in Suffolk, where to sleep in a room, with the Hawthorn in bloom in it during the month of May, is considered, by country folk, to be unlucky, and sure to be followed by some great misfortune.- -In some parts of Ireland, it is thought unlucky to bring blossoming Hawthorn indoors, and unsafe to gather even a leaf from certain old and solitary Thorns which grow in sheltered hollows of the moorlands, and on the fairies' trysting places.- -It is considered unlucky to cut down a Hawthorn-tree, and in many parts the peasants refuse to do it: thus we read, in a legend of county Donegal, that a fairy had tried to steal one Joe McDonough's baby, and, telling the story to her neighbours: "I never affronted the gentry [fairies] to my knowledge," sighed the poor mother; "but Joe helped Mr. Todd's gardener to cut down the old Hawthorn-tree on the lawn Friday was eight days: an' there's them that says that's a very bad thing to do. I fleeched him not to touch it, but the master he offered him six shillings if he'd help wi' the job, for the other men refused." "That's the way of it," whispered the crones over their pipes and poteen-"that's just it. The gude man has had the ill luck to displease the 'gentry,' an' there will be trouble in this house yet." Among the Pyrenean peasantry Hawthorn and Laurel are thought to secure the wearer against thunder. The inhabitants of Biarritz make Hawthorn wreaths on St. John's Day: they then rush to the sea, plunge in after a prayer, and consider themselves safe during the ensuing twelve months from the temptation of evil spirits.-The old herbalists prescribe the distilled water of the Haws of the Hawthorn as an application suited to "any place where thorns or splinters doe abide in the flesh," the result being that the decoction "will notably draw them out." Lord Bacon tells us, that a "store of Haws portends cold winters."- -Among the Turks, a branch of Hawthorn expresses the wish of a lover to receive a kiss.-The Hawthorn attains to a great age, and its wood is remarkably

durable: there is a celebrated tree enclosed in Cawdor Castle, near Inverness, which has stood from time immemorial. Tradition relates that the Castle was built over the tree in consequence of a dream, by which the original proprietor was instructed to erect a castle on this particular spot. From the most remote times it has been customary for guests to assemble themselves around this venerable tree, and drink success to the House of Cawdor.—The most remarkable of English Thorns is that known as the Glastonbury Thorn, which is reputed to have sprung from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea. (See GLASTONBURY THORN). By astrologers the Hawthorn is placed under the dominion of Mars. Turner remarks that, should he "want weapons, he may make use of the prickles and let Saturn take the fruit."

HAYMAIDS, OF HEDGEMAIDS, the Ground-Ivy.-See Ivy.

HAZEL.-The Hazel (Corylus Avellana) is the theme of many traditions, reaching from the remotest ages, and in England the tree would seem to have acquired almost a sacred character. In Scandinavian mythology the Hazel was consecrated to the god Thor, and in the poetic Edda a staff of Hazel is mentioned as a symbol of authority, and hence employed for the sceptres of kings. In classic mythology, the Hazel rod becomes the caduceus of the god Mercury. Taking pity on the miserable, barbarous state of mankind, Apollo and Mercury interchanged presents and descended to the earth. The god of Harmony received from the son of Maia the shell of a tortoise, out of which he had constructed a lyre, and gave him in exchange a Hazel stick, which had the power of imparting a love of virtue and of calming the passion and hatred of men. Armed with this Hazel wand, Mercury moved among the people of earth, and touching them with it, he taught them to express their thoughts in words, and awakened within them feelings of patriotism, filial love, and reverence of the gods. Adorned with two light wings, and entwined with serpents, the Hazel rod of Mercury is still the emblem of peace and commerce. An old tradition tells us that God, when He banished Adam from the terrestrial Paradise, gave him in His mercy the power of producing instantly the animals of which he was in want, upon striking the sea with a Hazel rod. One day Adam tried this, and produced the sheep. Eve was desirous of imitating him, but her stroke of the Hazel rod brought forth the wolf, which at once attacked the sheep. Adam hastened to regain his salutary instrument, and produced the dog, which conquered the wolf.-A Hebrew legend states that Eve, after eating the forbidden fruit, hid herself in the foliage of a Hazel-bush. It was a Hazel-tree which afforded shelter to the Virgin Mary, surprised by a storm, whilst on her way to visit St. Elizabeth. Under a Hazel-tree the Holy Family rested during their flight into Egypt. It was of wattled Hazel-hurdles that St. Joseph, of Arimathea, raised the first

tree.

English Christian church at Glastonbury.In Bohemia, a certain" chapel in the Hazel-tree," dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is had regarded with much reverence: it was erected in memory of a butcher to whom a statue of the Virgin, near a Hazel-tree, spoken. The butcher carried off the image to his house, but during the night the statue returned to its former place near the HazelIt -For the ancient Germans, the Hazel-tree, which reblossoms towards the end of winter, was a type of immortality. is now considered a symbol of happy marriages, because the Nuts -In the Black Forest, the are seen on its branches united in pairs.leader of a marriage procession carries a Hazel wand in his hand. In some places, during certain processions on Sunday, the Oats stored in stables for horses are touched, in the name of God, with -It is believed that this humble shrub frightens Hazel-branches.serpents. An Irish tradition relates that St. Patrick held a rod of Hazel-wood in his hand when he gathered on the promontory of Cruachan Phadraig all the venomous reptiles of the -The Hazel rod or staff island and cast them into the sea.appears in olden times to have had peculiar sanctity: it was used by pilgrims, and often deposited in churches, or kept as a precious Several such Hazel staffs have relic, and buried with its owner. been found in Hereford Cathedral.-The Tyroleans consider that a Hazel-bough is an excellent lightning conductor.-According to an ancient Hebrew tradition, the wands of magicians were made of Hazel, and of a virgin branch, that is, of a bough quite bare and destitute of sprigs or secondary branches.-Nork says that by means of Hazel rods witches can be compelled to restore to animals and plants the fecundity which they had previously taken from them.-Pliny states that Hazel wands assist the discovery of subterranean springs; and in Italy, to the present day, they are believed to act as divining-rods for the discovery of hidden treasure-a belief formerly held in England, if we may judge from the following lines by S. Shepherd (1600):—

"Some sorcerers do boast they have a rod,
Gather'd with words and sacrifice,
And, borne aloft, will strangely nod

To hidden treasure where it lies."

Extraordinary and special conditions are necessary to ensure success in the cutting of a divining-rod. It must always be performed after sunset and before sunrise, and only on certain nights, among which are specified those of Good Friday, Epiphany, Shrove Friday, and St. John's Day, the first night of a new moon, or that preceding it. In cutting it, one must face the east, so that the rod shall be one which catches the first rays of the morning sun; or, as some say, the eastern and western sun must shine through the fork of the rod, otherwise it will be valueless, Both in France and England, the divining-rod is much more commonly employed at the present time than is generally supposed.

In the eighteenth century its use was ably advocated by De Thouvenel in France, and soon afterwards in our country by enthusiasts. Pryce, in his Mineralogia Cornubiensis, states that many mines have been discovered by means of the rod, and quotes several. Sir Thomas Browne describes the divining-rod as "a forked Hazel, commonly called Moses' Rod, which, held freely forth, will stir and play if any mine be under it." He thinks, however, that the rod is of pagan origin, and writes:-"the_ground whereof were the magical rods in poets-that of Pallas, in Homer; that of Mercury, that charmed Argus; and that of Circe, which transformed the followers of Ulysses: too boldly usurping the name of Moses's rod; from which, notwithstanding, and that of Aaron, were probably occasioned the fables of all the rest. For that of Moses must needs be famous to the Egyptians, and that of Aaron unto many other nations, as being preserved in the Ark until the destruction of the Temple built by Solomon." In the Quarterly Review,' No. 44, is a long account (vouched for by the editor), proving that a Lady Noel possessed the faculty of using the divining-rod:-" She took a thin forked Hazel-twig, about sixteen inches long, and held it by the end, the joint pointing downwards. When she came to the place where the water was under the ground, the Hazel-twig immediately bent, and the motion was more or less rapid as she approached or withdrew from the spring. When just over it, the twig turned so quick as to snap, breaking near the fingers, which by pressing it were indented and heated, and almost blistered; a degree of agitation was also visible in her face. The exercise of the faculty is independent of any volition."-The use of the forked Hazel-twig as a divining-rod to discover metals is said to have been known in this kingdom as early as the days of Agricola: its derivation is probably to be sought in an ancient custom of the Israelites, to which the Prophet Hosea alludes when he says: "My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them."- -In Sweden, Hazel-nuts are believed to have the mystical power of making invisible.—An old-fashioned charm to cure the bite of an adder was to cut a piece of Hazel-wood, fasten a long bit and a short one together in the form of a cross, then to lay it softly on the wound, and say thrice in a loud tone

"Underneath this Hazelin mote, There's a Braggotty worm with a speckled throat,

Nine double is he.

Now from 9 double to 8 double,
And from 8 double to 7 double,
And from 7 double to 6 double,

And from 6 double to 5 double,
And from 5 double to 4 double,
And from 4 double to 3 double,

And from 3 double to 2 double,
And from 2 double to I double,
And from I double to no double,
No double hath he !"

To dream of Hazels, and of cracking and eating their Nuts, portends riches and content as the reward of toil. To dream of finding hidden Hazel-nuts predicts the finding of treasure.-Astrologers assign the Hazel to the dominion of Mercury.