That tree was Yggdraſill, the world tree, whoſe roots extended to hell, and whoſe branches ſpread to heaven. Northern mythology is full of alluſion to this tree, but we have, unfortunately, little of the hiſtory of it preſerved to us; we know of it only through alluſions. The Chriſtmas tree is its repreſentative; it has been taken up out of paganiſm, and rooted in Chriſtian ſoil, where it flouriſhes to the annual delight of thouſands of children. Now the mediæval romanciſts laid hold of this tree, as they laid hold of the Grail baſin, and uſed it for Chriſtian purpoſes. The Grail cup became the chalice of the Blood of Chriſt, and the Tree of Odin became the Croſs of Calvary. They worked into the romance all kinds of material gathered from floating folk-tale of heathen anceſtry, and they pieced in with it every ſcrap of alluſion to a tree they could find in Scripture. It is built up of fragments taken from all kinds of old ſtructures, put together with ſome ſkill, and built into a goodly romance; but the tracing of every ſtone to its original quarry has not been done by anyone as yet. The Grail myth has had many ſtudents and interpreters, but not the Croſs myth. That remains to be examined, and it will doubtleſs prove a ſtudy rewarding the labour of inveſtigation. S. BARING-GOULD. [Illustration] [Illustration] _The Legendary Hiſtory of the Croſs._ [Sidenote: 1 _A.D. 326._] [Sidenote: _Rufinus on the Invention._] [Sidenote: 2 _Hadrian is ſaid to have done this._]