Jftdfegljam (ourt. 5 



native wildness, and wild indeed they were. Shallow 

 streams ran through them, and by means of these they 

 could alone be visited : he who sought to explore their 

 secret recesses must force his way beside the channel of 

 the stream ; now stepping from stone to stone amid the 

 water's splash; now clinging to the branches of the 

 trees which drooped on either side. But whether wild 

 or cultivated, there the Danes settled themselves, till 

 they were driven out in the days of Alfred. 



Alfred established his throne in righteousness, and the 

 country became respectable and happy. 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, till five 

 hundred years have passed away, and when the period 

 arrived, concerning which I shall have to speak, the tree 

 was only in its prime. 



The forest had encroached upon the precincts of the 

 fields and meadows, during those disastrous times when 

 the ground was trod by hostile steps, as if it sought to 

 recover its ancient rights; but this might not be, and 

 when peace was restored, the sound of the woodman's 

 axe was heard again, and the usurping trees fell beneath 

 its stroke. Then, also, many of those whose ample 

 branches had long sheltered the margin of the cleared 

 land, were cut down, to make room for wider clearings ; 

 and by degrees the noble yew, which had been in the 

 depth of the dark forest, stood but a little distance from 



