THE YEW* 



299 



which quite supports this view. Dr. Hunter 

 thinks the best reason to be given for planting 

 the Yew in churchyards is, that the branches were 

 often carried in procession on Palm Sunday, 

 instead of Palm." It is still customary in Ireland 

 for the peasants to wear sprigs of Yew in their 

 hats from that day until Easter-day. Our fore- 

 fathers/' says Martyn, were particularly careful 

 to preserve this funereal tree, whose branches it 

 was usual to carry in solemn procession to the 

 grave, and afterwards to deposit therein under the 

 bodies of their departed friends. Our learned 

 Ray says, that our ancestors planted the Yew in 

 churchyards, because it was an evergreen tree, as 

 a symbol of that immortality which they hoped 

 and expected for the persons there deposited. 

 For the same reason, this and other evergreen 

 trees are even yet carried in funerals, and thrown 

 into the grave with the body ; in some parts of 

 England and in Wales, they are planted with 

 flowers upon the grave itself."* Shakspeare 

 alludes to a similar custom : — 



" My shroud of white, stuck all with Yew, 

 0 prepare it I " 



Phillips quotes a table taken from the ancient 

 laws of Wales, from which it appears, that some 

 trees were solemnly dedicated to religious pur- 

 poses, and were consequently more highly valued 

 than others : — 



" A consecrated Yew, its value is a pound ; 



An Oak, its value is six score pence. 

 * ^- * 



Fifteen pence is the value of a wood Yew-tree." 



* This custom is still observed in the north of Devon. 



