422 



ANTIQUITIES 



The farther use of yew trees might be as a screen to 

 churches, by their thick foliage, from the violence of winds; 

 perhaps also for the purpose of archery, the best long bows 

 being made of that material ; and we do not hear that they 

 arc planted in the churchyards of other parts of Europe, 

 where long bows were not so much in use. They might 

 also be placed as a shelter to the congregation assembling 

 before the church doors were opened, and as an emblem of 

 mortality by their funereal appearance. 1 In the south of 

 England every churchyard almost has its tree, and some 

 two; but in the north, we understand, few are to be found. 2 



The idea of R. C. that the yew tree afforded its branches 

 instead of palms for the processions on Palm Sunday, is a 

 good one, and deserves attention. See Gent. Mag. vol. i. 

 p. 128. 



LETTER VI. 



HE living of Selborne was a very small vicar- 

 age; but, being in the patronage of Magdalen 

 College, in the university of Oxford, that 

 society endowed it with the great tithes of 

 Selborne, more than a century ago, and 

 ainca the year 1758 again with the great tithes of Oak- 

 hanger, called Bene's Parsonage: so that, together, it is 

 become a respectable piece of preferment, to which one of 

 the fellows is always presented. The vicar holds the great 

 tithes, by lease, under the college. The great disadvan- 

 tage of this living is, that it has not one foot of glebe near 

 home. 3 



1 Or perhaps of immortality by their evergreen foliage : whence, 

 probably, the derivation of the name yew, q. d. ewig, everlasting. ED. 



2 In the northern churchyards the place of the yew is supplied by 

 the ash, lime, and horse-chestnut. Yew trees, however, and some of 

 them of large size, are frequently to be met with in the courtyards and 

 ifardens of ancient mansions in the north of England. ED. 



* At Bene's, or Bin's parsonage there is a house and stout barn, and 



