346 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 206. 



TEW-TREES IN CHCKCHT AR1>S . 



(Vol. vlii., p. 244.) 



Whilst offering a solution to the Query of R. C. 

 TVarde, as to the placing yew-trees in church- 

 yards, I am obliged to differ from him toto ccelo, 

 by considering the derivation of the name of the 

 plant itself, though I must candidly confess that 

 the solw '.ion of the Query and the derivation of 

 the word are my own. 



Yew is ancient British, and signifies existent and 

 enduring, having the same root as Jehovah ; and 

 yetv is Welsh for it is, being one of the forms of 

 the third person present indicative of the aux- 

 iliary verb bod, to be. Hence the yew-tree was 

 planted in churchyards, not to Indicate death, de- 

 spair, but life, hope and assurance. It is one of 

 our few evergreens, and is the most enduring of 

 all, and clearly points out the Christian's hope in 

 the immortality of the soul : Resurgam. 



Whilst on the word i/etv, I may perhaps observe 

 that I am hardly inclined now (though I once was 

 so) to derive from it, as the author of the Etijmo- 

 logical Compendium does, the name yeoman. I 

 think that yeoman is not yc?o-raan, " a man using 

 the yew-bow," but yoAe-man, a man owning as 

 much land as a yohe of oxen could plough in a 

 certain time. J. G. Gumming. 



The following extract from the Handbook of En- 

 glish Ecclesiology, p. 190., may be of some assist- 

 ance to your correspondent : 



" Yew. These were planted generally to the south 

 of the church, to supply green for the decoration of 

 churches at the great festivals ; this tree being an em- 

 blem of immortality. It is a heathen prejudice which 

 regards it as mournful. It is not probable yews were I 

 used as palms ; the traditional name given to the withy 

 showing that this was used in the procession on that 

 festival." 



William W. King. 



Instead of troubling you with a particular answer 1 

 to Mr. Warde's inquiry, let me refer him to the i 

 Forest Trees of Britain, by the Rev, C. A. Johns, 

 p. 297. et seq., where, among many other curious 

 and interesting facts, he will find the various 

 reasons assigned by different authors, ancient and 

 modern, for the plantation of yew-trees in church- 

 yards. I do not find, however, that the origin in- 

 geniously assigned by Mr. Warde is among the 

 number. $. 



I have always supposed, but I know not upon 

 what authority, that the custom of planting yew- 

 trees in churchyards originated in the idea of sup- 

 plying the yeomen of the parish with bows, in the 

 good old archery days. Ignoramus. 



STARS are the FLOWERS OF HEAVEN. 



(Vol. vii. passim.) 



I sent a Note to " N. & Q." some time ago, ex- 

 pressing my conviction that the original locale of 

 this beautiful idea was in St. Chrysostom ; but, as 

 I could not then give a reference to the passage 

 which contained it, my suggestion was of course 

 not definite enough to call for attention. I am 

 now able to vindicate to the " golden-mouthed " 

 preacher of Antioch this expression of poetic 

 fancy, the origination of which has excited, and 

 deservedly, so much inquiry among the readers of 

 " N. & Q." It occurs in Homily X., " On the 

 Statues," delivered at Antioch. I transcribe the 

 passage from the translation in The Library of the 

 Fathers : 



" Follow me whilst I enumerate the meadows, the 

 gardens, the flowering tribes ; all sorts of herbs and 

 their uses, their odours, forms, disposition ; yea, but 

 their very names ; the trees which are fruitful and the 

 barren ; the nature of metals ; that of animals, in the 

 sea or on the land ; of those that swim and those that 

 traverse the air ; the mountains, the forests, the groves ; 

 the meadow below and the meadow above ; for there is a 

 meadow on the earth, and a meadow too in the sky ; the 

 VARIOUS FLOWERS OF THE STARS ; the rose ])elow, and 

 the rainbow above ! . . . . Contemplate with me the 

 beauty of the sky ; how it has been preserved so long 

 without being dimmed, and remains as bright and 

 clear as if it had been only fabricated to-day ; more- 

 over the power of the earth, how its womb has not be- 

 come effete by bringing forth during so long a time !" 



&c Homily X., " On the Statues," pp. 178-9. 



W. Fraseb. 



Tor-Mohun. 



P. S. — Are the following lines, which contain 

 this idea, and were copied long ago from the 

 poet's corner of a provincial paper, with the title 

 of "The Language of the Stars, a fragment," worth 

 preserving ? 



" The stars bear tidings, voiceless though they are : 

 'Mid the calm loveliness of the evening air, 

 As one by one they open clear and high, 

 And win the wondering gaze of infancy, 

 They speak, — yet utter not. Fair heavenly flowers 

 Strewn on the floor- way of the angels' bowers ! 

 'Twas His own hand that twined your chaplets 



bright ; 

 And thoughts of love are in your wreaths of light, 

 Unread, unreadable by us: — there lie 

 High meanings in your mystic tracery ; 

 Silent rebukings of day's garish dreams, 

 And warnings solemn as your own fair beams." 



BOOKS BURNED BY THE COMMON HANGMAN. 



(Vol. viii., p. 272.) 



Your correspondent Balliolensis should re- 

 member that at the time Dr. Drake published his 



