_Of the Quick-Beam._
1. The quick-beam [_ornus_, or as the _pinax_ more peculiarly, _fraxinus
bubula_; others, the wild sorb] or (as some term it) the witchen, is a
species of wild-ash. The Berries which it produced in October, may then
be sown; or rather the sets planted: I have store of them in a warm
grove of mine, and ’tis of singular beauty: It rises to a reasonable
stature, shoots upright, and slender, and consists of a fine smooth
bark. It delights to be both in mountains and woods, and to fix it self
in good light grounds; Virgil affirms, ’twill unite with the pear.
2. Besides the use of it for the husbandman’s tools, goads, &c. the
wheelright commends it for being all heart; if the tree be large, and so
well grown as some there are, it will saw into planks, boards and
timber, (vide Chap XXX. Sect. 10.) and our fletchers commend it for bows
next to yew; which we ought not to pass over, for the glory of our once
right English ancestors: In a Statute of HEN. 8. you have it mention’d:
It is excellent fuel; but I have not yet observed any other use, save
that the blossoms are of an agreeable scent, and the berries such a
tempting bait for the thrushes, that as long as they last, you shall be
sure of their company. Some highly commend the juice of the berries,
which (fermenting of it self) if well preserv’d, makes an excellent
drink against the spleen and scurvy: Ale and beer brew’d with these
berries, being ripe, is an incomparable drink, familiar in Wales, where
this tree is reputed so sacred, that as there is not a church-yard
without one of them planted in them (as among us the yew) so on a
certain day in the year, every body religiously wears a cross made of
the wood, and the tree is by some authors call’d _fraxinus
Cambro-Britannica_; reputed to be a preservative against fascinations
and evil-spirits; whence, perhaps, we call it witchen; the boughs being
stuck about the house, or the wood used for walking-staves.