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with scales, somewhat resemble minute acorns. They are to be seen in 

 March, as described by Bishop Mant — 



" Nor curious less the mountain Yew, 

 Which, 'mid its leaves of solemn hue, 

 Its sulphur-coloured anthers now, 

 In clusters on tiie dark-green bough, 

 Here void of cup or blossom fair, 

 Exhibits ; and at distance, there 

 Its verdant chalices minute, 

 The embryos of its scarlet fruit." 



The Yew grows wild in this kingdom in mountainous woods ; and we 

 may sometimes find a solitary Yew standing on the hill-sides, its deep verdure 

 contrasting with the brighter tint of the grass. Such have we seen on the 

 chalky hills of Kent, not far from Druidical remains, though not old enough 

 or near enough to be connected with them ; and we have thought of Words- 

 worth's lines — 



'• This solitary tree, a living tiling. 

 Produced too slowly ever to decay, 

 Of form and aspect too magnificent 

 To be destroy'd." 



The Yew was once abundant in the New Forest, but doubtless many of 

 these trees of olden times have perished by the axe ; and as some of the old 

 reasons for planting them exist no longer, they are now much fewer than in 

 past ages. But there are spots in this kingdom where the tree grows in 

 abundance. The Rev. C. A. Johns, in his "Forest Trees of Britain," says 

 " that on cliffs near Coomb Martin, in North Devon, numbers of these trees 

 grow in places accessible only to birds ;" and he mentions also that the Yew 

 Island in Loch Lomond furnished, a few years since, three hundred Yews for 

 the axe, while several noble trees yet remain there. " The most remarkable 

 assemblage of Yews in Great Britain," says this writer, " is at a place called 

 Kingley Bottom, about four miles from Chichester. As to when or by whom 

 they were planted, or indeed whether they were planted by the hand of man 

 at all, history is silent. They are about two hundred in number ; one-half 

 of them form a dense dark grove in the depth of the Bottom ; the remainder, 

 smaller ones, are scattered over the sides of the valley, intermingled with fine 

 plants of juniper and holly. " The Yew is frequent in Scotland, and grows" 

 at a great elevation on the limestone rocks of Ireland, though rarely attaining 

 there any great size. It is indigenous to most European countries, but it 

 is almost unknown in Sweden and Lapland. Linnaeus found it in but one 

 place in the latter country, where the people called it Id, or Idegran ; and Dr. 

 E. D. Clarke, when in Sweden, saw it growing wild once only, and then not 

 larger than a shrub ; while it was reared with care, and regarded as a 

 vegetable treasure, in the botanic garden of Upsal. 



The "Baneful Yew," the epithet of Virgil, was particularly appropriate 

 in times when men believed the tree to be very noxious. Pliny said, " It is 

 unpleasant and fearfull to looke upon, as a cursed tree, without any liquid 

 substance at all." The ancients sat not beneath its shadow, nor would touch 

 of its fruits. They would not allow their beehives to be placed near it, lest 

 the bee should suck its poison, nor would they have drunk wine from a 



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