HAMPSHIRE YEWS 39 



and hollow, a new stem or branch will sometimes be 

 found growing within the old shell. Numberless in- 

 stances are on record. Thus at Upper Clatford, near 

 Andover, there is a fine old yew-tree with no less than 

 thirteen separate stems growing from the hollow shell. 

 Other instances in Hampshire may be seen at Mottisf ont 

 on the Test, at West Tisted, at Corhampton in the 

 Meon Valley, and other places. 



When growing naturally there are few more striking 

 objects on the country-side than a stately yew-tree. In 

 its spring dress, when the branches are covered with 

 dusty blossoms, an old male yew presents a beautiful 

 appearance. It seems to change its colour, as Mr 

 Dewar has pointed out, when viewed from different 

 positions. " By mid-March it does not look green in 

 some lights ; at any rate, green is not its chief colour. 

 We see yews a hundred yards away of a red or brown 

 colour, which, on nearer inspection, alter to a flesh tint." 

 Charming too, as Charles Waterton says in one of his 

 Essays on Natural History, is the appearance of the 

 female tree after the sun has passed the autumnal equi- 

 nox. " The delicate crimson of its fruit, with the dark 

 green leaves behind it, produces an effect so pleasing to 

 the view that it can scarcely be surpassed by anything 

 which the southern forests present to the lover of 

 beauty." 



But the yew has suffered from superstitious associa- 

 tions, both in ancient and in mediaeval times. It was 

 doubtless regarded as a sacred tree in the days of the 

 Druids. The poets give to it such epithets as " dismal," 

 and "fatal," and even " double fatal." " Slips of yew 

 silvered in the moon's eclipse " formed part of the 

 ingredients of the witches' cauldron in Macbeth. In 



