44 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



the trunk to be, at four feet from the ground, where it 

 seemed to be the largest, 25 feet 2 inches. Besides 

 occasionally helping the Vicar of Selborne, Gilbert 

 White, it will be remembered, was for a short time 

 Sunday curate at Durley, near Bishop's Waltham, and 

 for nearly twenty-five years curate of Farringdon, a 

 small village about three miles from Selborne. It is 

 curious to notice that enormous yew-trees lend distinc- 

 tion to the churchyards of both Durley and Farringdon. 

 The trunk of the Durley tree measures 24 feet 6 inches 

 in circumference, while the Farringdon tree, which is in 

 a state of great decay, is said to measure over 30 feet. 



Many yew-trees have been claimed as the largest and 

 most magnificent specimens in Hampshire. William 

 Gilpin, in his classical work on Forest Scenery, pub- 

 lished in 1791, would give the place of honour to the 

 immense yew in the churchyard of Dibden. "It is 

 now," he wrote, " in the decline of life. But its hollow 

 trunk still supports three vast stems, and measures 

 below them about thirty feet in circumference a girth 

 which perhaps no other yew-tree in England can ex- 

 hibit." Mr Dewar considers that " the greatest and 

 perhaps the oldest " yew-tree in Hampshire is the mag- 

 nificent ruin to be seen in the churchyard of Woodcot 

 in the north of the county. It is sadly battered about, 

 owing to the exposed situation, but it still shows " con- 

 siderable signs of vitality," and its trunk has a circum- 

 ference of 27 feet 6 inches. From a picturesque stand- 

 point there are few finer yew-trees than the beautiful 

 example standing in Brockenhurst churchyard, which, 

 " from the Conqueror's day to this hour has darkened 

 the graves of generations." I should feel inclined, how- 

 ever, with the late Mr T. W. Shore, to give the palm to 



