404 SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



" Sure this is better 



Than a great hedge of yew that makes it look 

 All the year round like winter, and for ever 

 Dropping its poisonous leaves from the under boughs, 

 Withered and bare !" 



So he takes the opportunity of affording a reasonable 

 argument, both to the friend and the enemy of the tree. 



Martyn, in his notes on Virgil, says, " The berries of 

 the yew are said by Pliny to be poisonous. The leaves 

 also, are said by the ancients to be destructive to horses, 

 which we find to be true in England. The berries have 

 been eaten by myself and many others with impunity : 

 but this may be owing to the difference of climate ; for 

 Dioscorides, who says it is not alike poisonous in all 

 places, affirms that the berries are poisonous in Italy, and 

 the shade hurtful in Narbonne. Perhaps the species may 

 be different, for there is mention of a sort of Yew in the 

 Pisa garden, which is more bushy than the common, and 

 has leaves more like a fir; and sends forth such a poisonous 

 smell when it is clipped, that the gardeners cannot work 

 at it above half an hour at a time*." 



Virgil calls it noxious : 



" Taxique nocentes." 



The honey of Corsica is notoriously unwholesome, 

 which Virgil apparently attributes to the bees feeding 

 upon the Yew. He seems to think the Corsican Yew 

 particularly hurtful : 



" Sic tua Cyrneas fugiant examina taxos.'' 



Georgic iv. 



" So may thy bees avoid the yews of Corsica." 

 * Martyn's Virgil, p. 166. 



