Green'd all the year, and fruits and blossoms blush'd In social sweetness on the self-same bough." If this were the only criterion of the golden age, we might fancy, whilst gazing on the Arbutus, that it was returned again, for this beautiful tree is indeed "loaden with fairest fruit, Blossoms and fruit at once." But, alas! short would be the illusion; for a moment ary glance at some neighbouring tree would at once remind us we are yet in a fading, fallen world: for the Arbutus is profuse of its fruit and flowers when all the rest of the grove have "fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf." * Arbutus unedo: the meaning for this word, "you will eat but one." This beautiful peculiarity, however, though it does sometimes feed fanciful conceits and baseless visions, makes it a very valuable addition to the lawn and the shrubbery, where it is now no longer the rarity which Evelyn describes it to have been in his day. It is valuable also in such situations on another account; its old leaves never fall off till replaced by new ones, so that it is clothed with verdure all the winter through; its foliage, both in shape and colour, has a resemblance to that of the bay. "It rises," says Miller, "to from twenty to thirty feet in height, but rarely with an upright stem. It usually puts forth branches very near the ground; the berries are roughened with the tuberIcles of the seeds." The Arbutus is a native of the south of Europe, and many parts of Asia: it is also found wild on the barren limestone rocks near the lake of Killarney, where its fruit is eaten by the natives: this is also the case in Spain and Italy. In very early times we are told this practice was universal; but surely not in the golden age to which we have before alluded, otherwise we should be tempted to believe, that, at least in the article of food, the nineteenth century surpassed "those prime of days." This tree is not without classical fame. It is mentioned by Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. The former, it is true, does not associate it with any thing very sublime or ennobling, for he chiefly recommends it as peculiarly agreeable to goats in the winter, when other sustenance fails; for basket-work, and for the purposes of engrafting: "Rough arbute slips into a hazel bough Are oft engrafted." Horace, however, gives it higher praise. He commends it for its shade; and Ovid for the beauty of its ruby fruit. It has received but little poetical notice in our own country; less, surely, than it deserves; but its not being much cultivated here till lately may account satisfactorily for the omission, without impugning the taste of such of our forefathers as were skilled "to sing, and build the lofty rhyme." We find it thus noticed in modern poetry : "The leafy Arbute spreads A snow of blossoms, and on every bough Its vermeil fruitage glitters to the sun." And again: Glowing bright Beneath the various foliage, widely spreads The Arbutus, and rears his scarlet fruit There are several species of this beautiful genus; most of which affect mountainous situations. The Andrachne, or oriental strawberry tree, grows both on Mounts Ida and Helicon, and the Arbutus alpina is seen clothing the Lapland Alps, from their summits to their base; it also cheers the dreary district around the White Sea, and other inhospitable regions. Youthful maiden, wouldst thou know Why, to deck thy sunny brow, Woo'd me now with whisper bland, Or the lily, purest gem, Sought to form thy diadem, Still I would this chaplet twine Round that laughing brow of thine. Mark upon this lovely bough How in social beauty grow Flowers and fruit, a fairy throng, Fitting theme for poet's song; Sure not brighter wreaths than this Yet a lovelier sight I know: (Ay, thou read'st my riddle now) "Tis, when in the social bower Wisdom's fruit, and youth's fair flower, (Combination rare as sweet) On the self-same scion meet. Youthful maiden, I would see These rare graces meet in thee; |