Notes — Ormiston Hall 241 



feet ; so that in the forty-five years it had increased 

 8 inches in diameter, and since that time to 1890 

 it has not increased at all in its larq-est measure- 

 ments, but it may be noted that these are by no 

 means exact, as they vary in the height at which 

 they are made. Thus Balfour gives 1 9 feet 8 inches 

 at 5 feet, while Hutchison gives the same girth at 

 3 feet. 



In the well-known publication. The Bee} the 

 Ormiston yew is mentioned thus : — ' Its trunk is 

 1 1 feet in circumference and 25 feet in length ; the 

 diameter of the ground overspread by its branches 

 is 53 feet ; and there is about the twentieth part of 

 an English acre covered by it. It is still growing 

 in full vigour, without the least symptom of decay.' 

 This was written in 1792. Its outer spread of 

 branches, says the old chronicler, was 218 feet, 

 and its branches fell around the trunk like a hugfe 

 umbrella, forming an inner circle large enough to 

 afford standing-room for two hundred to three hun- 

 dred people. ' Here Wishart the martyr preached 

 to an audience composed of the Laird of Ormiston, 

 his dependants and neighbours, and in desponding 

 strains, in harmony with the solemn and funereal 

 aspect of the old yew-tree, addressed his last and 

 parting words to those friends from whom he was 

 so soon to be severed for ever. (He was seized 

 at the Hall by Cardinal Beaton's means in 1545.) 



1 Vol. ii. p. 333. 



Q 



