nical history, as being undoubtedly,
like the Scotch fir, one of the primaeval trees of Europe; while its grey
bark and leaves and its pleasant rustling sound make the tree acceptable
in our hedgerows, but otherwise it is not a tree of much use. In
Spenser's time it was considered "good for staves;" and before his time
the tree must have been more valued than it is now, for in the reign of
Henry V. an Act of Parliament was passed (4 Henry V. c. 3) to prevent
the consumption of Aspe, otherwise than for the making of arrows, with a
penalty of an Hundred Shillings if used for making pattens or clogs.
This Act remained in force till the reign of James I., when it was
repealed. In our own time the wood is valued for internal panelling of
rooms, and is used in the manufacture of gunpowder.

By the older writers the Aspen was the favourite simile for female
loquacity. The rude libel is given at full length in "The Schoole-house
of Women" (511-545), concluding thus--

"The Aspin lefe hanging where it be,
With little winde or none it shaketh;
A woman's tung in like wise taketh
Little ease and little rest;
For if it should the hart would brest."

HAZLITT'S _Popular English Poetry_, vol. iv, p. 126.

And to the same effect Gerard concludes his account of the tree thus:
"In English Aspe and Aspen tree, and may also be called Tremble, after
the French name, considering it is the matter whereof women's tongues
were made (as the poets and some others report), which seldom cease
wagging."

FOOTNOTES:

[25:1] "Espe" in "Promptorium Parvulorum." "Aspen" is the case-ending of
"Aspe."

BACHELOR'S BUTTON.

_Hostess._

What say you to young Master Fenton? he capers, he dances, he
has eyes of youth, he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he
smells April and May; he will carry't, he will carry't; 'tis
in his Buttons; he will carry't.

_Merry Wives_, act iii, sc. 2 (67).

"Though the Bachelor's Button is not exactly named by Shakespeare, it is
believed to be alluded to in this passage; and the supposed allusion is
to a rustic divination by means of the flowers, carried in the pocket by
men and under the apron by women, as it was supposed to retain or lose
its freshness according to the good or bad success of the bearer's
amatory prospects."[27:1]

The true Bachelor's Button of the present day is the double Ranunculus