CHAP, xv SYLVA 135 



2. Besides the use of it for the husbandman's tools, 

 goads, &c. the wheelright commends it for being all 

 heart ; if the tree be large, and so well grown as some 

 there are, it will saw into planks, boards and timber, 

 (vide Chap xxx. Sect. 10.) and our fletchers com- 

 mend it for bows next to yew ; which we ought not 

 to pass over, for the glory of our once right English 

 ancestors : In a Statute of HEN. 8. you have it 

 mention'd : It is excellent fuel ; but I have not yet 

 observed any other use, save that the blossoms are of 

 an agreeable scent, and the berries such a tempting 

 bait for the thrushes, that as long as they last, you 

 shall be sure of their company. Some highly com- 

 mend the juice of the berries, which (fermenting of 

 it self) if well preserv'd, makes an excellent drink 

 against the spleen and scurvy : Ale and beer brew'd 

 with these berries, being ripe, is an incomparable 

 drink, familiar in Wales, where this tree is reputed so 

 sacred, that as there is not a church-yard without 

 one of them planted in them (as among us the yew) 

 so on a certain day in the year, every body religiously 

 wears a cross made of the wood, and the tree is by 

 some authors call'd fraxinus Cambro-Eritannica ; 

 reputed to be a preservative against fascinations and 

 evil-spirits ; whence, perhaps, we call it witchen ; 

 the boughs being stuck about the house, or the wood 

 used for walking-staves. 



