COMMON YEW. 369 



intended to afford a supply of branches to the congre- 

 gation on Palm Sundays ; while others, again, have imagined 

 that it was merely introduced as an emblem of silence 

 and death. The most probable and comprehensive view 

 that has yet been taken appears to be that of J. E. 

 Bowman, Esq., F.L.S., contained in an article published 

 in the first volume of the " Magazine of Natural History," 

 new series, and which is free from the objections that may 

 be urged against most of the other suppositions upon the 

 subject, all of which appear to be too limited as to the time 

 when it is supposed the custom first commenced ; for there 

 is little or no doubt but that Yew trees existed in places 

 of Druidical worship previous to the erection of Christian 

 churches upon the same sites, and the Rev. W. T. Bree, 

 in the sixth volume of the " Magazine of Natural History, 1 ' 

 suggests the probability that churches were more frequently 

 built in Yew groves or near old Yew trees, than that 

 Yew trees were planted in the churchyards after the 

 churches were built. Mr. Bowman also observes, " It 

 seems most natural and simple to believe that, being 

 indisputably indigenous, and being, from its perennial 

 verdure, its longevity, and the durability of its wood, 

 at once an emblem and a specimen of immortality, its 

 branches would be employed by our pagan ancestors, on 

 their first arrival here, as the best substitute for the 

 cypress, to deck the graves of the dead and for other 

 sacred purposes. As it is the policy of innovators in reli- 

 gion to avoid unnecessary interference with matters not 

 essential, these, with many other customs of heathen 

 origin, would be retained and engrafted on Christianity 

 on its first introduction. 1 '' Such, indeed, we find to be 

 the case in regard to other existing customs whose origin 

 is generally unknown, or, if known, confined to the learned 



2 B 



