, and
, which appellation was probably given to it on account of its use in holy places; the German name, Christdorn, the Danish name, Christorn, and the Swedish name, Christtorn, seem to justify this conjecture. It is also styled Holy in a carol written in its praise in the time of Henry VI., preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 5396, and printed in Loudon's Arboretum:
Nay, Ivy, nay, it shall not be I wys;
Let Holy hafe the maystry, as the maner ys,
Holy stond in the halle, fayre to behold;
Ivy stond without the dore; she is full sore a cold.
Holy and hys mery men they dansyn and they syng,
Ivy and hur maydenys they wepyn and they wryng.
Ivy hath a lybe; she laghtit with the cold,
So mot they all hafe that wyth Ivy hold.
Holy hath berys as red as any rose,
They foster the hunter, kepe him from the doo.
Ivy hath berys as black as any slo;
Ther com the oule and ete hym as she goo.
Holy hath byrdys, aful fayre flok,
The nyghtyngale, the poppyngy, the gayntyl laverok,
Good Ivy! what byrdys ast thou!
Non but the Howlet that "How! How!"
The disciples of Zoroaster believe that the sun never shadows the Holly-tree; and there are still some followers of this king in Persia, who throw water which has been in the bark of the Holly in the face of new-born children. Southey, in a very elegant poem, which is printed in the Sentiment of Flowers, in the article entitled Foresight, of which quality the Holly is considered emblematical, has noticed the circumstance of the lower leaves of large plants being spinous, while the upper are entire.