Poetical allusions Browne, Harte, Gisborne 167 



Gay ton, Art of Longevity (1659), p. 53, has the 

 following line : 



' The Ewe, sad box and cypress (solemn trees).' 



Prior says of the yew : 



' The distinguished yew is ever seen 

 Unchanged his branch and permanent his green.' 



In The Maid's Tragedy^ we find the following : 



' Lay a garland on my hearse, 



Of the dismal yew ; 

 Maidens willow branches bear ; 

 Say I died true.' 



Browne (Sir Thomas) speaks of 



' The warlike yewgh, by which, more than the lance, 

 The strong-armed English spirits conquered France/ 



Harte 2 has the following lines at the beginning 

 of the eighteenth century : 



' Dark Cypresses the skirting sides adorned, 

 And gloomy yew-trees which for ever mourned.' 



Gisborne 3 writes of the yew, in the same melan- 

 choly strain : 



' Nor shall the reverend yew, the sire who held 

 His sceptre verdant through the changeful years, 

 Unnoticed stand, he has beheld . . . 

 Thousands entombed within his shadows ; 

 For ages past the sobs, the far-fetched groans 

 Of parting anguish ere the grave was closed, 

 And drunk the mourner's tears.' 



1 Beaumont and Fletcher, 1619. 



2 Walter Harte. 3 Reflections. 



