116 SYLVA BRITANNICA. 



cemeteries : partly to insure its cultivation ; partly 

 to secure its leaves and seeds from doing injury to 

 cattle ; and partly because its unchanging foliage 

 and durable nature made it a fit emblem of immor- 

 tality ; whilst, at the same time, its dark green ren- 

 dered it not less aptly illustrative of the solemnity of 

 the grave. 



The Yew-tree lives to a great age : indeed it can 

 scarcely ever be said to die, new shoots perpetually 

 springing out from the old and withered stock. 



THE YEW TREE AT ANKERWYKE, 



near Staines, the seat of John Blagrove, Esq., is 

 supposed to have flourished there upwards of a 

 thousand years. Tradition says, that Henry VIII. 

 occasionally met Anne Boleyn under the lugubrious 

 shade of its spreading branches, at such times as 

 she was placed in the neighbourhood of Staines, in 

 order to be near Windsor ; whither the king used to 

 love to retire from the cares of state. Ill-omened as 

 was the place of meeting under such circumstances, 

 it afforded but too appropriate an emblem of the 

 result of that arbitrary and ungovernable passion, 

 which, overlooking every obstacle in its progress, 

 was destined finally to hurry its victim to an un- 

 timely grave. It is more pleasing to view this tree 

 as the silent witness of the conferences of those 



