284 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



in 1834, ami its branches were so'completely entwined togetlior that rustic chairs and 

 other articles were made of them without nailing. 



The Ankerwyke Yew, near Staines, is said to be upwards of 1000 years old. 

 Henry Vill. was said to have made it his trysting place with Anna Boleyn when she 

 was li^-ing at Staines ; and Magna Charter was signed within sight of it, on the 

 island in the Thames between Ankerwyke and Runnymede. The girt of this tree at 

 three feet from the ground is twenty-seven feet eight inches ; and at eight feet is 

 thirty-two feet five inches. 



*' What scenes have passed since this ancient yew 

 In all the strength of youthful beauty grew ! " 



The Arlington or Harlington Yew stands in the churchyard of the village of that 

 name, between Brentford and Hounslow. It is chiefly remarkable for its large size, 

 and for its having been clipped into a regular pyramidical and fanciful form. It was 

 surrounded by a wooden seat, and ten feet above that a large circular canopy is 

 foiTned out of the tree itself, which was, according to the poet John Saxy, the parish 

 clerk — 



" So thick, so fine, so full, so wide, 

 A troop of guards might under it ride." 



Ten feet above this canopy was another, much smaller, above that a pyramid twenty 

 feet high, and then a globe ten feet high, which was crowned by — 



** A weathercock who gaped to crow it. 

 This world is mine, and all below it." 



The tree ceased to be clipped about 1780 or 1790, and soon regained its natural 

 shape. 



" Here patriot barons might have musing stood. 

 And plann'd the charter for their country's good." 



Box Hill, in Surrey, was, in the time of Evelyn, as celebrated for its yews ag 

 for its box trees. In the churchyard at Queenswood near Tytherly, in Wiltshire, 

 there are two yew trees which are above 500 years old ; the largest is twenty-eight 

 feet high, diameter of the trunk three feet six inches, and of the head fifty feet. There 

 is, in the same wood, an avenue 414 yards long, consisting of 162 yew trees, which 

 are supposed to be 200 years old. There are many other remarkable yew trees in 

 Britain, most of which are noticed in Mr. Loudon's "Arboretum ;" and we can all 

 recollect some favourite yew tree, which stands as it has ever done within our 

 recollection, and with no evidence of growth or change in a period perhaps of half a 

 century. 



EXCLUDED SPECIES. 



PINUS PINEA. Linn. 



The cones of this are said to have occurred in the Irisli bogs, but 

 it is no longer wild or naturalised in Ireland. 



