220 



Transactions of the [Sess. 



both historically interesting, for it has been transmitted down to 



our own times that it was within the sombre enclosure of the former 



that the Darnley plot was hatched ; while the latter, according to 



tradition, at one time accommodated a congregation of several 



hundreds under the arching canopy of its branches, when John 



Knox was the preacher. There are, besides, the historic English 



Yews of Fountains Abbey, Gresford, Anker wyke, and Darleydale, 



described by Loudon, which are all undoubtedly over 1000 years 



old. But every one of these trees, and many others which might 



be mentioned, must give place to the Fortingall Yew. " This 



Yew," in the words of the late Professor Christison (to whom it was 



an object of great interest), " stands within the churchyard, four 



miles by road above the confluence of the Tay and Lyon, and about 



400 feet above sea-level, in a valley very favoiirable to tree life. It 



is quite within the churchyard, in a walled enclosure thkty-three 



feet by twenty. But depredation has thus not been altogether 



prevented. Two railed openings and a railed gate allow inspection 



from outside of a mass of vegetation so confused, that the whole 



enclosure seems simply full of young Yews and vigorous spray.^ It 



is only by brushing through this mass on obtaining entrance into 



the interior, and not easily even then, that an adequate idea can 



be formed of what is stiU extant of the ancient tree." This tree 



was behoved by De CandoUe to be " possibly the most venerable 



specimen of vegetation in Europe," and this celebrated botanist 



estimated its age as over 2500 years ; while Sir Kobert Christison 



made a most minute and painstaking inquiry as to the growth of 



the Yew and other trees at various ages, in order to be able to 



arrive at an approximate estimate of the age of this particular tree. 



The result of his labours will be noted by-and-by, when we have 



o-lanced at the various published accounts of former visitors. 



Though the FortingaU Yew is so noteworthy, there does not 

 appear to be any very early notice of it. One would have ex- 

 pected to find it mentioned in the ' Black Book of Taymouth ' ; but 

 though severe storms and other natural phenomena are there duly 

 chronicled, this wonderful curiosity is not once alluded to by the 

 compilers — at least, in the published portions of the MS. Nor does 

 Evelyn, in his ' Silva,' refer to any Scottish trees whatever, though 

 he mentions several ancient Yews : all his specimens are EngHsh. 

 The early troubles of Scotland may in part account for such paucity 

 of scientific observation ; while as regards the Highlands, up to 

 a comparatively recent period this part of the kingdom was re- 

 garded by Southrons as a region full of frightful mountains and 

 precipices, and inhabited by savages no less frightful. It may, 

 therefore, have been considered rather a bold adventure — the Great 

 Magician not having yet arisen — when in 1768 the Honourable 

 Daines Barrington (the " Judge Barrington " of the Welsh Bench) 



