234 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



at some distance from the ground, by two great con- 

 torted arms, one on each side of the inner wall of its 

 decaying parent. The girth of the main trunk was 

 29-4 in 1838, so that it has increased only 6 inches 

 in fifty-seven years. 



Melksham Court, Wilts, Stinchcombe Wood. An 

 extremely fanciful picture is drawn by Mary 

 Roberts 1 of the life-history of an old yew-tree at 

 Melksham Court, Wilts, which formed, as she sup- 

 poses, part of the primeval forest which in ancient 

 times covered that country of the Dobuni. 



She describes the gradual disappearance of the 

 forest, leaving the tree standing in solitary grandeur, 

 and witnessing in turn the advent of the Romans, 

 Saxons, Danes, and Normans. * Still the tree 

 grew on, and lifted up its head above the boughs 

 of less stately trees, for the yew does not attain to 

 its highest elevation, or rest in the grandeur of its 

 maturity, ti\\jive hundred years have passed away, 

 and when the period arrived, concerning which I 

 shall have to speak, the tree was only in its 

 prime.' 



She then proceeds to narrate the marriage of 

 Richard to Anne of Luxembourg, in whose train 

 came Margaret of Silesia, niece of the king of 

 Bohemia. Margaret's daughter married Sir William 

 Tyndale, one of whose descendants settled 

 at Melksham Court, and was the grandfather of 



1 Ruins and Old Trees associated with Memorable Events, 8vo, N. D. 



