1 62 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



And in the Ballad of Agincourt he speaks of the 

 bows made of Spanish yew : 



' Fair stood the wind for France, 

 As we our sails advance, 

 Nor now to prove our chance, 

 Longer will tarry ; 



But putting to the main, 

 At Kaux, the mouth of Seine, 

 With all his martial train 

 Landed King Harry. 



They now to fight are gone, 

 Armour on armour shone, 

 Drum now to drum did groan, 



To hear, was wonder ; 

 That with the cries they make, 

 The very earth did shake, 

 Trumpet to trumpet spake, 



Thunder to thunder. 



With Spanish yew so strong, 

 Arrows a cloth-yard long, 

 That like to serpents stung, 



Piercing the weather : 

 None from his fellow starts, 

 But playing manly parts, 

 And like true English hearts, 



Stuck close together.' 



The preceding lines indicate, I think, the probable 

 source from which Lord Tennyson derived the 

 metre of ' The Charge of the Light Brigade.' The 



