156 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



'This foul reproach Ascanius could not bear 

 With patience, or a vow'd revenge forbear ; 

 At the full stretch of both his hands, he drew 

 And almost join'd the horns of the tough yew.' 



And again : 



' From cornels, javelins ; and the tougher yew 

 Receives the bending figure of a bow.' * 



The approach of the horns to one another is again 

 described, and he speaks of the wood as stubborn : 



' She said, and from her quiver chose with speed 

 The winged shaft predestined for the deed : 

 Then to the stubborn yew her strength applied, 

 Till the far-distant horns approach'd on either side.' 2 



' To come now to the Yugh,' says Pliny, * because 

 he would overpasse none : it is to see to, like the rest 

 (pines), but that it is not so greene ; more slender 

 also and smaller, unpleasant and fearfulle to look 

 upon, as a cursed tree, without any liquid substance 

 at all : and of these trees it alone beareth berries.' * 



He also asserts that vessels made of yew wood 

 impart deadly properties to the wine made in them. 4 

 And this is not impossible, although it is probable, 

 as has been suggested, that the wine was made 

 poisonous by other ingredients being added to it. 

 Galen pronounces the tree to be of a venomous 

 quality, and * against man's nature.' 5 



1 ' Cornus, Itureos taxi torquentur in arcus.' Georg. ii. 48. 



2 sEneid, Lib. xi. 3 Plinie (Holland), Bk. xvi. ch. x. 

 4 'Vasa etiam viatoria en ea vinis in Gallia facta, mortifera fuisse com- 



pertum est.' Plin. Lib. xvi. 

 6 Folkard, Plant Lori: Legends and Lyrics \ London, 1884. 



