286 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



ing bows, as many have supposed, for a single 

 tree would have afforded a very scanty sup- 

 ply for this purpose. We might have been 

 induced to have formed the same conclusion, 

 had we found but one tree of this kind in 

 each churchyard, but even at the present 

 time it is not unfrequent to see several. In 

 the churchyard at Aberystwith there are 

 eleven yew-trees, the largest of which is 

 twenty-four feet in circumference ; and in 

 Mamkilad churchyard there are twelve fine 

 yew-trees ; which proves that it was not con- 

 fined to the planting of a single tree. 



It is very natural that the yew should be 

 considered a funeral tree from its having so 

 long occupied a place in our cemeteries, and 

 our fore-fathers seem to have been particu- 

 larly careful in preserving this tree sacred, 

 the branches of which they carried in solemn 

 procession to the grave, and afterwards de- 

 posited under the bodies of their departed 

 friends. 



" Let's talk of graces, of worms, and epitaphs ; 

 Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes, 

 Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth, 

 Let's choose executors, and talk of wills." 



Shakspeare. 



" Now from yon black and funeral yew, 

 That bathes the charnel house with dew." 



Parnell. 



