THE YEW. 127 



of the wood, which for delicacy and beauty of 

 colouring is also excelled by few,, the box alone 

 perhaps, presenting a surface of greater evenness 

 and polish. Yew is the most esteemed of all our 

 native '. woods for high-class turnery-work and for 

 inlaying. It has the recommendation also of being 

 rarely or never attacked by insects, guarded, like 

 that of the lime and the Indian sandal-wood, by 

 some native objectionableness. Sections, both 

 horizontal and vertical, constitute truly beautiful 

 objects for the parlour museum, and form an excel- 

 lent nucleus for a collection of such things. When so 

 much time is devoted to " scrap-book " making and 

 to stamp-collecting, useful up to a certain point as 

 such pastimes may be, it seems a pity that as much 

 leisure and activity should not be given to collec- 

 tions of wood-sections, which endure for ever, are 

 beautiful and varied as seashells, and cost little 

 more than the trouble of polishing. In bygone 

 times the wood of the yew-tree was famous among 

 archers, and it is curious to note that no less than 

 three kings of this country have lost their lives 

 through its instrumentality. First, the ill-fated 

 Harold, at the battle of Hastings ; then William 

 Kufus, in the New Forest ; thirdly, Eichard Coeur 

 de Lion, at Limoges. The battles of Crecy, Poic- 

 tiers, and Agincourt, were won through the energy 

 of the yew-tree bowmen, and perhaps the milder 

 archery of the present day would be more success- 



