_German Tree_ (Vol. viii., p. 619.).--In answer to the inquiry of ZEUS, who
wishes to be informed whether this custom was known in England previous to
1836, I beg to refer him to Coleridge's _Friend_, second landing-place,
essay iii. (vol. ii. {66} p. 249.), entitled "Christmas within doors in the
north of Germany." The passage (apparently from Coleridge's journal) is
dated "Ratzeburg, 1799." It is, I think, also extracted in Knight's
_Half-hours with the best Authors_. Coleridge went to Germany in 1798
(_Biog. Lit._, vol. i. p. 211. note); but I imagine the passage I refer to
did not appear till 1818, when _The Friend_ was published in three volumes
(_Biog. Lit._, vol. ii. p. 420.). As the book is so common, I do not think
it worth while to copy out the account. ZEUS has by this time, I hope, had
a Christmas Yggdrasil in his Olympus.