216 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



as the law of gravitation. Indeed, like gravitation, it 

 is a law. The will we deal in seems to be outside 

 law. Hence its irregularities. But this is certain 

 the more the will of a man resembles this will of a 

 chervil plant in its method quiet, and deep, and 

 gentle persistence in the object aimed at, the surer is 

 it of triumph. 



Ours is a land of yews. Single trees, groups, here 

 and there even a grove of yews, are scattered through- 

 out the Hampshire chalk. The greatest of them all, 

 I think, and perhaps the eldest, is in the churchyard 

 at Woodcot, one of the least known spots in our 

 Highlands. The yew is a great tree at all seasons, 

 grandly English ; but in spring it has a sort of 

 personality about it which attracts me greatly. If 

 a tree could be in love, I think it would be the yew 

 in full spring dress. The smart new crest of the 

 plovers and the high burnish of the doves in spring 

 point to the passion of the mating season; animal 

 and plant life can hardly be separated : would it then 

 be so fantastic to speak of the courtship and marriage 

 of yews ? Like plover and dove, the old male yew 

 tree in early spring passes through a beautiful change. 

 A yew across the lane, or in the next field, seems 

 wholly to have changed colour since mid-February. 

 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, alters to a flesh tint. 



