10 



THE HAMPSHIRE- ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



Mr. F. A. Echvards quoted from Prof. Montagu 

 Burrows's " History of the Brocas Family " an early 

 reference to the making of tiles at Odiham. In 

 1357-8 Sir Bernard Brocas was having some building 

 operations carried on at Beaurepaire, and in his 

 steward's account are the items of 403. for 12,000 tiles 

 and 6s. for " fetching the tiles from Odiham." The 

 outcrop of the London clay, Mr. Shore added, made 

 this a good place for tiles. On the proposition of 

 Mr. Whitaker, who did the duties of President, and 

 Mr. F. Mason Good, thanks were voted respectively 

 to the directors of the day, and their host and hostess ; 

 and with these compliments the day's proceedings 

 came to an end. 



THE HAMPSHIRE INDEPENDENT, October 12, 1889. 



YEW TREES IN CHURCHYARDS. 

 [//. /. ante, Oct. 5, 1889.] 



The reason why yew trees were planted in church- 

 yards is explained by a Statute of Edward I, referred 

 to by Douce in his " Illustrations of Shakespeare," 

 Vol. I, p. 397. The passage may be given at length 

 as follows : 



" In a Statute made in the latter part of the reign of 

 Edward I, to prevent rectors from cutting down the trees 

 in churchyards, we find the following passage : ' Verum 

 arbores ipsae, propter ventorum impetus ne ecclesias 

 noceant, ssepe plantantur ' (i.e., that trees be often planted 

 to protect the churches from violent winds). This is, at 

 least, sufficient for the purpose of disproving what has 

 been so often asserted respecting the plantation of yews in 

 churchyards for the purpose of making bows, for although 

 these weapons were sometimes made of English yew, the 

 more common materials employed were elm and hazel." 



Steevens considers that these yews in churchyards 

 were also resorted to for bows. Shakespeare often 

 mentions the yew, and always as a tree of ill-omen 

 as in "King Richard III" : 



" Thy very headsmen learn to bend their bows 

 Of double-fatal yew against thy state." 



Among the ingredients in the witches' cauldron, in 

 " Macbeth," are 



" Slips of yew, 



Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse." 



The poisonous quality of the leaves of the yew is 

 well known. C. ROACH SMITH. 



Temple-place, Strood. 



WINCHESTER CITY RECORDS. 

 The St. James's Gazette says that persons interested 

 in manuscripts and historical documents and their 

 dangers and vicissitudes might have witnessed an in- 

 structive exhibition at Mr.' Zaehnsdorfs, the well- 

 known bookbinder, of York-street, Covent Garden. 

 He has been entrusted by the Corporation of Win- 

 chester with the binding of their ancient records, ex- 

 tending as far back as 1349. As an example of the 

 carelessness with which such documents are kept, it may 



be mentioned that very many of them both parch- 

 ment and paper were, through exposure to the action 

 of damp, crumbling away, resembling in some in- 

 stances powder rather than paper. Yet by the 

 method of treatment adopted they can now 

 be easily handled, and the writing, which 

 was in some cases faint almost to illegi- 

 bility, can be readily deciphered. In some 

 instances new parchment has been wedded to the old 

 in such skilful fashion that the restoration is only de- 

 tected after careful' examination. The documents as 

 they are now arranged consist of the following : 

 Books of Enrolment, 1349-1411 ; Tarrage Book, 

 1408-9 ; Four Court Rolls (16 vols.), 1522-1694 ; 

 Coffer Accounts, 1589-1661. An examination of the 

 crumbled fragments of many of these records, now 

 carefully and securely interleaved in substantially 

 bound folio volumes, and easy of reference, produces 

 a vivid sense of the irreparable losses to the national 

 history from the negligence of custodians of ancient 

 records. In many instances discoloured fragments, 

 so small as to be practically useless for the purpose of 

 information, are all that are left of deeds which in 

 their integrity would be priceless. It is satisfactory 

 to find that, if we may take Winchester as an 

 example, the corporations of our ancient cities are 

 now alive to the duty of preserving what still remains 

 to them of their historical records. 



A LITERARY CURIOSITY. 

 I have just found amongst my odd papers No. 3 of 

 the Romscy Weekly Register, printed and published 

 by Samuel Jackson, on December 16, 1816. Its 

 longest article is headed " Cobbett versus Cobbett, or 

 the Hypocrite Unmasked," and bears the signature, 

 " A Hampshire Freeholder." The writer admits that 

 great distress prevails, and attributes it to the change 

 our country had just undergone, from war to peace. 

 He is severe in his treatment of Cobbett and Hunt 

 (Henry, I suppose, he means), but says Hunt is by far 

 the least dangerous. He avers that even in those 

 times the wants of the poor are attended to with as 

 much, if not with greater humanity, in this country 

 than in any other upon earth. That Mr. Cobbett 

 cared not for the accuracy of his statements so that he 

 could sell his pamphlets. The poor are entreated to 

 distinguish between their real friends and such 

 persons as Mr. Cobbett, who, instead of co-operating 

 with the more benevolent of his countrymen, in 

 voluntarily contributing for the relief of the 

 distressed, is very glad to take their 

 pence for his pamphlets ; and to turn 

 their misfortunes into a source of profit to himself . 

 He confesses that a more equal representation of the 

 property of the kingdom is to be desired ; but the 

 evil is not of that pressing nature to require such 

 violent measures as universal suffrage a'>d annual 

 Parliaments ! He entreats his readers not to forget 

 the pure and impartial administration of justice in tin's 



