Why planted in Churchyards 99 



certain that from very early times it has been used 

 at funerals. This practice is mentioned by many 

 early English writers ; for instance, by Thomas 

 Stanley, writing in 1651 : 



' Yet strew 

 Upon my grave 

 Such offerings as you have, 

 Forsaken cypresse and sad Ewe, 

 For kinder flowers can take no birth 

 Or growth from such unhappy Earth.' 



And again, in the Marrow of Compliments, etc., 

 published in 1655 : 



' Every hand and every head 

 Bind with cypresse and sad Ewe.' 



Evelyn says : ^ ' The best reason that can be 

 given why the yew was planted in churchyards, is 

 that branches of it were often carried in procession, 

 on Palm Sunday, instead of Palms. In Nichol's 

 Exti'-acts from Chnrch-ivarden s Accottnts'^ is the 

 following note as to the use of yew on Palm 

 Sunday: 'a.d. 1525 — paid for kaks, flowers and 

 Yow, ii<^.' 



Brady's Clavis Calcndaria, vol. i. pp. 276-80, 

 says that in commemoration of our Saviour's entry 

 into Jerusalem, ' the Church has, from the earliest 

 period, held this clay in the highest respect. 

 Among our superstitious forefathers the palm-tree 

 or its substitiUes, box or yeiv, were solemnly blessed, 



1 Sylva, p. 267. - P. 272 (4th ed. 1797). 



