64 BIOGRAPHY. 



well-known yew-hedge in the garden of Merton College, 

 Oxford, is full of little birds, though their domiciles are 

 not easily seen through the dense foliage. 



Waterton made great use of this valuable tree, and 

 formed with it evergreen walls, impermeable to the north 

 wind, the one foe which he dreaded, and which seemed 

 q^uite to benumb him. I have seen him with his lips so 



CHURCH AND STATE. 



paralysed by the north wind that he could scarcely frame 

 a word. He spent most of his waking time out of doors, 

 and his yew hedges were a great advantage to him in 

 sheltering him from the north wind, and forming 

 pleasant nooks which received the cheering rays of the 

 southern sun. 



He wrote as follows in his Essay on the Yew-tree : " It 



