50 The Yew, [Sess. 



together. The yew is of very slow growth, and its wood 

 accordingly is very tough and elastic, qualities that recom- 

 mended it long ago for the manufacture of bows used in 

 archery. The trunk of the tree was the part chiefly used for 

 this purpose, the boughs being rough and knotty. It was the 

 long-bow that contributed so much to the victories of the 

 English. The cross-bow seems never to have been used by 

 them in warfare. The need of providing a supply of bows for 

 the English archers is frequently given as the reason of the 

 occurrence of yew-trees in churchyards, but the number of 

 trees planted in churchyards would not have produced a 

 fraction of the bows required. In the time of Edward III. 

 every man was required to have a bow, and was commanded 

 to " learn and exercise the art of shooting, forbidding all and 

 singular that they do not after any manner apply themselves 

 to the throwing of stones, handball, and such-like vain plays 

 which have no profit in them." The wood of the yew is 

 beautifully shaded with reddish, orange, and dark brown, and 

 is used in the manufacture of furniture. It is the finest 

 European wood for cabinet-making purposes, and lasts longer 

 than any other wood. It was a common saying that a post of 

 yew would outlast one of iron. Many antique and curious 

 specimens of furniture are still preserved in the old mansions 

 throughout the country. The yew does not now rank as a 

 timber tree. Objects made from the wood of the yew have been 

 unearthed from among the ruins of long-buried Eastern cities. 

 The wood has also been found buried in peat mosses of great 

 age in Ireland, and spear-heads made of the yew have been 

 dug from beneath the peat in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, and 

 may be regarded as at least several thousand years old ; but 

 the age of the yew goes back to far remoter times. In the 

 forest-bed which lies underneath the glacial deposits on the 

 shore of Cromer in Norfolk, the tree has been found associated 

 with mammals like the elephant and rhinoceros, which indi- 

 cates a vast antiquity. It must have grown in this country 

 when the land was united to the continent and a milder 

 climate prevailed. Seeds of the yew have been found in the 

 coal shale identical with those of the living plant, only smaller. 

 The tree was very extensively used in ancient topiary garden- 

 ing, and during the seventeenth century was held in high 



