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public, for llie benefit of those who are curious in such 
subjects. 
We must, however, single one from its fellows, not 
only on account of its great age — for it is said to have 
flourished upwards of a thousand years, — but for the 
memorable events with which it is connected. The yew- 
tree at Ankerwyke, near Staines, “ was the silent witness 
of the conference of those brave barons who afterwards 
compelled John to sign Magna Charta in its immediate 
vicinity. It is also said to have been the ill-omened 
witness of the meetings of the eighth Henry with Anne 
Boleyn, who was placed at Staines to be near Windsor.” 
The yew, as has been already observed, delights in 
mountainous woods and limestone rocks; but, as in our 
days, the native stock is greatly diminished, we are 
most familiar with it as the sentinel of the churchyard, 
for which habitation its dark evergreen foliage renders 
it peculiarly appropriate; and we almost merge “ tire 
good tough yew” of ancient times, in “ the funereal 
yew” of the present. Yet had it, even in its days of 
warlike renown, a close connection with the grave, for 
it has immemorially been the ornament and guardian 
of country burial places; and what so fit 
——'“ In place of sculptur’d stone,” 
To mark the resting place of men unknown ? " 
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