200 LIFE OF A TREE. 
its lair,—a wilderness the solitude of which was 
broken by no voice of man, but which was the 
undisturbed domain of birds and beasts and rep- 
tiles, of which nothing but the dead bones now 
are to be found. A century later saw, as it is 
said, the vessels of a Trojan warrior touch the 
desolate shores of England, and establish the first 
colony in our island; it also saw the good King 
David reigning over the many thousands of Israel 
and Judah; and it saw the Yew-tree, then arrived 
at tall and fair proportions, holding up a head 
that was to brave the contests of a score of cen- 
turies, boldly but modestly amongst the trees in 
its vicinity. King David was gathered to his 
fathers; the foreign colonists were succeeded 
by their children of many generations down- 
wards; but the Yew-tree grew stronger and 
stronger amid the decay of every other earthly 
thing. 
The great stream of the river Time flowed on, 
sweeping down year by year its millions of the 
human race, while fresh millions followed in their 
place. Rome, the “ mistress of the world,” as 
she has been called, received her first stone, grew 
great and powerful, and conquered distant na- 
