Poetical allusions — Parnell, Herrick 165 



In Hecate's answer to the aerial spirit, we find 

 mention of the dew which has condensed on the 

 yew-tree : — 



' With new-fallen dew 

 From churchyard yew, 

 I will but 'noint 

 And then I '11 mount,' etc. 



Parnell,^ writing a hundred years after Shake- 

 speare, notices the same fact : — 



' Now from yon black and funereal yew 

 That bathes the charnel-house with dew, 

 Methinks I hear a voice begin.' 



The condensation of dew, which is also noticed 

 by Dr. Leyden, is not peculiar to the yew, but is 

 a feature in most evergreens. 



As a funeral decoration we find in Twelfth 

 Night " the Clown sings : — 



' My shroud of white, stuck all with yew, 

 O, prepare it.' 



Herrick,^ in his ode ' To the Yew and Cypresse 

 to grace his Funerall,' writes :— 



' Both you two have 

 Relation to his grave ; 

 And where 

 The funerall-trump sounds, you are there'; 



The Hermit. - Act iii. Sc. 4. ^ Romance oj Nature, 



