As soon as we are dressed we take a stroll out among the trees.
In whichever direction we turn we are struck by the abundance
of hollies. I believe there are some three thousand full
grown specimens within a radius of a mile of the Speech House.
This may be due to the spot having been from time immemorial
the central and most important place in the Forest. The roads
that lead to it still show the Roman paving-stones in many
places, as Senator Hoar can bear witness; and the central
point of a British Forest before the Roman time would be occupied
by a sacred oak. The Forest into which Julius Caesar pursued
the Britons to their stronghold, was Anderida, that is, the
Holy Oak; from _dar,_ oak (Sanskrit, daru, a tree), and _da,_
good. It is worth remarking that this idea survives in the
personal name, Holyoak; for who ever heard of "Holyelm," or
"Holyash," or a similar form compounded of the adjective and
the name of any other tree than the oak. If there is an exception
it is in the name of the _holly_. The Cornish Celtic word
for holly was Celyn, from Celli (or Kelli), a grove; literally
a _grove-one;_ so that the holly was probably planted as a
grove or screen round the sacred oak.
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