XIX 



WE live in an age of shattered illusions : one 

 by one our most cherished traditions are 

 proved incontestably to be irreconcilable with 

 common sense. It was but last year (1897) that an 

 impious Scot relegated Bruce's spider to the realm of 

 myth, and now Dr. Lowe comes cranking in l to show 

 that our yew trees, for which the epithet 'immemorial' 

 seems to have been specially devised, can lay no claim 

 to extraordinary antiquity. It is not easy to see how, 

 as a faithful witness, he could have avoided doing so, 

 seeing that he has undertaken, and right well dis- 

 charged, the task of recording all the notable yews in 

 these islands. The slow growth of the yew, its im- 

 mutable mantle of sombre green, its frequent presence 

 in God's acre, are all features rendering this tree a 

 pliant accomplice with tradition, which is ever ready 

 to invest familiar objects with marvellous attributes. 

 The old fond beliefs will hardly be shaken by the 



1 The Yew Trees of Great Britain and Ireland. By John Lowe, 

 M.D. London : Macmillan and Co. 



