THE YEW. 



117 



brave barons who afterwards compelled King John 

 to sign Magna Charta, in its immediate vicinity, 

 between Runnymede and Ankerwyke House, than 

 as the involuntary confidant of loves so unhallowed 

 and so unblest as those of Henry and Anne Boleyn. 

 Both events, however, are happily alluded to in the 

 following lines : 



*• What scenes have pass'd, since first this ancient Yew 

 In all the strength of youthful beauty grew ! 

 Here patriot Barons might have musing stood. 

 And plann'd the Charter for their Country's good ; 

 And here, perhaps, from Runnymede retired, 

 The haughty John, with secret vengeance fired. 

 Might curse the day which saw his weakness yield 

 Extorted rights in yonder tented field. 

 Here too the tyrant Henry felt love's flame. 

 And, sighing, breathed his Anna Boleyn's name : 

 Beneath the shelter of this Yew-tree's shade. 

 The royal lover woo'd the ill-starr'd maid : 

 And yet that neck, round which he fondly hung. 

 To hear the thrilling accents of her tongue ; 

 That lovely breast, on which his head reclined, 

 Form'd to have humanized his savage mind ; 

 Were doom'd to bleed beneath the tyrant's steel, 

 Whose selfish heart might doat, but could not feel. 

 O had the Yew its direst venom shed 

 Upon the cruel Henry's guilty head, 

 Ere England's sons with shuddering grief had seen 

 A slaughter 'd victim in their beauteous queen !" 



The girth of this tree, at three feet from the ground, 

 is twenty-seven feet eight inches; at eight feet. 



