THE YEW. 11 



beincc fifty-six foct and a half in circumference, or 

 about eir^htceu feet in diameter. 



The yew tree at Mucruss abbey, in Ireland, has a 

 trunk about six feet and a half in circumference, and 

 fourteen feet hip:)!, which terminates in a head that 

 fills the area of the cloisters. 



In England and Wales, some very large speci- 

 mens are mentioned. According to Evelyn, the 

 Crowhurst yew was thirty feet in circumference ; that 

 at Braburue churchyard, in Kent, was nearly twenty 

 feet diameter, although it had been dismantled by 

 storms ; and at Sutton, near Winchester, there was, 

 as Evelyn quaintly says, " such another monster." 

 At Hedsor, in Buckinghamshire, there was lately, if 

 there be not still, one in health and vigour, full 

 twenty-seven feet in diameter. In the woods of 

 Cliefden, near Hedsor, there are some extraordinary 

 remains of these trees, whose roots, apparently of 

 vast age, twine about the chalk rocks in the most 

 fantastic shapes. 



Considering the immense size to which the yew 

 grows, and the strength, durability, and even beauty 

 of its timber, one cannot help regretting that, when 

 those great trees shall have yielded, as yield they 

 must, to the destructive power of time, there should 

 not be a succession. It is true that, in consequence of 

 the great improvement of the iron manufacture, and 

 the cheapness of that article, it can be apphed to 

 many purposes for which the gi-eat strength of the 

 yew was well adapted. 



The custom of clipping yews into fantastic shapes 

 was much practised in the sixteenth and seventeenth 

 centuries. Some of our chvu'chyards still have 

 their yew-trees thus cut into the pretended likenesses 

 of birds and beasts. At Bedfont, in Middlesex, there 

 are two celebrated trees, whose branches are annually 

 shaped into something like the form of a peacock, 



H 3 



