344 THE YEW. 



thrown into the grave with the body ; in some parts of 

 England and in Wales they are planted with flowers 

 upon the grave itself." Shakespeare alludes to a similar 

 custom : 



" My shroud of white, stuck all with Yew, 

 Oh prepare it ! " 



Phillips quotes a table taken from the ancient laws of 

 Wales, from which it appears, that some trees were solemnly 

 dedicated to religious purposes, and were consequently 

 more highly valued than others : 



" A consecrated Yew, its value is a pound; 

 An Oak, its value is six score pence. 



* * * 



Fifteen pence is the value of a wood Yew-tree." 

 Dr. Aikin thinks it probable that the Yew was planted 

 ia churchyards for the sake of furnishing boughs to deco- 

 rate the church at Christmas, but Miss Kent has shown, 

 by a quotation from Brand's " Popular Antiquities," that 

 the Yew was rarely used except in default of other ever- 

 greens : " Had a tree," she says, " been planted in church- 

 yards for that use, it would more probably have been the 

 Holly, which was never omitted." Herrick speaks of the 

 Yew as expressly appropriate to the season of Easter : 



" The Holly hitherto did sway, 



Let Box now domineer, 

 Until the dancing Easter-day, 

 Or Easter's eve appear. 



" Then youthful Box, which now hath grace 



Your houses to renew, 

 Grown old, surrender must his place 

 Unto the crisped Yew." 



Perhaps the favourite opinion is, that Yews were planted 

 in such situations to afford a supply of wood for making 

 bows. The long-bow, it is well known, was at the period 

 of the battles of Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt, the 

 national weapon of England. Statutes were passed by 

 many of our sovereigns, forbidding the exportation of Yew 

 wood, and obliging Venetian and other merchant ships to 



