THE LONGEVITY OF TREES. 103 



in the days of Solomon, "yet few comparatively have the 

 days of the years of their life been, and have not attained 

 unto the days of the years of the life of their fathers," the 

 real patriarchs of the world-renowned grove. 



The Yew has, probably, a well founded claim to its repu- 

 tation as the longest-lived tree of northern Europe ; and its 

 longevity appears the less surprising, when the closeness and 

 incorruptibility of the wood are considered, as well as its ex- 

 treme slowness of growth. A Yew 



" Of vast circumference and gloom profound " 



is truly, as Wordsworth has it, 



" a living thing, 

 Produced too slowly ever to decay ; 

 Of form and aspect too magnificent 

 To be destroyed." 



The frequent occurrence of ancient Yews in English church- 

 yards is simply and beautifully explained by Mr. Bowman ; l 

 — the Yew, being indisputably indigenous to Great Britain, 

 and being, from its perennial verdure, its longevity, and the 

 durability of its wood, at once an emblem and an example of 

 immortality, its branches would be employed by our Pagan 

 ancestors, on their first arrival, as the best substitute for the 

 Cypress, to deck the graves of the dead, and for other sacred 

 purposes ; and the innocent custom, like others of heathen 

 origin, would naturally be retained and engrafted upon Chris- 

 tianity at its first introduction. 



From the inspection of various trunks of two or three 

 hundred years old, De Candolle drew the conclusion that the 

 trunk of the Yew increases in diameter at the rate of a little 

 more than a line — the twelfth of an inch — in a year for the 

 first one hundred and fifty years, and at a little less than this 

 rate during the next century or two. De Candolle proposed, 

 therefore, to estimate the age of ancient Yews by assuming a 

 line per annum as their average growth in diameter. Their 

 age would in this way be readily computed by measuring their 

 circumference, and thence obtaining the radius in lines ; the 

 tree being reckoned as many years old as there are lines in 

 1 In "Mag. Nat. Hist.," 2d ser., i. p. 86. 



