Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/513

 10 s. xii. NOV. 27, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

421

LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1909.

CONTENTS. No. 309.

NOTES : The Yew Tree, 421 Military Musters : Parish Armour, 422 Denny and Windsor Families, 424 Coopers in 1440 St. Andrew's Day and the Sassenach The North Pole Mediaeval Body found at Stamford, 426 "Vege- tarian": " Fruitarian "Dickens and the Temperance Meeting, 427.

QUERIES : Richard Coeur-de-Lion : his Heart Bakers' Servants c. 1440 Thomas Moore's Wife, 427 "What Lancashire thinks to-day," &c. High Stewards temp. Elizabeth Watson's ' History of Printing ' Louis Devisme Samuel Dunster John Dyer Schiller's ' Wallensteins Tod' Charles I. Metal Jewellery Anni- versaries Holly as Browse for Cattle, 428 Restoration Plays Hafiz in Oriental Editions Steamers in 1801 and 1818 Albany Baths, York Road G. Morland at Kensal Green, 429 "Tikes and Churls" H. Etough Tourna- ments and Jousts, 430.

REPLIES : The "Strawberry Hill" Catalogue, 430 Wheatear Pronunciation of Cowper, 432 Last Duel with Swords "All right" Epworth Parsonage Ghost ' N. & Q. ' Commemoration Epicurus in Art, 433 " Bourne " in Place-Names Spurgeon on Monte Carlo, 434 Parry and Perry Families" Right as a Trivet " Capt. Buckley and Mrs. Errington Scott's ' Lochinvar,' 435 Cainsford, Gloucestershire -Mildew in Books- Yew in Poetry " Dish of tea," 436 " Lapp'd in lead" Turner Portrait, 437 Sponges "Le Hole Bole," 438.

NOTES ON BOOKS : ' Dissertation upon Odd Numbers ' ' L'Intermediaire.'

Booksellers' Catalogues. OBITUARY :-John H. Nodal. Notices to Correspondents.

THE YEW TREE.

IT would be purposeless to inquire how long the yew tree will live. That it is the most long-lived tree which nourishes in Northern Europe seems certain, though, if a discussion were ventured upon as to the relative years of life awarded to the yew .and the oak, the partisans of the latter would have not a little to say on behalf of their favourite. There is no evidence which de- monstrates that the oldest of existing yews were living in the Roman time, but it does not seem improbable that there may be some which, as young trees, were growing around heathen places of mystic ceremonial and in the resting-places of the dead ere Christianity reached our shores.

That there are yews as old as the introduc- tion of Christianity into our island seems al- most certain. Dr. Rock took great interest in the matter, and in his ' Church of our Fathers * <lst ed., vol. ii. p. 320) he gave a long and valuable note on the subject. He directed attention to the fact that the tree in the

churchyard of Aldworth in Berkshire is probably one of the largest in England. Evelyn left exact measurements of some of the most noteworthy yews with which he was acquainted, and I believe he recorded the dates when they were made. At the time that Candolle visited this country he measured these trees once more, and, comparing his measurements with those of Evelyn, came to the conclusion that in this country the diameter of the yew increases at the rate of one line a year. In the summer of 1841 Dr. Rock visited the Aid- worth yew, and he found it to have increased half a yard in girth since 1760, when its measurement was given in the ' Beauties of England.' Dr. Rock pointed out that if it grew with regularity it must have been planted in A.D. 460. As we know from Bede's ' Ecclesiastical History ' that after St. Augustine came to England it was the custom to appropriate the religious build- ings of the pagans to Christian uses, we may be sure that their burial-grounds w r ere taken over also. I believe, indeed, that un- doubtedly heathen graves have been found in churchyards, though I cannot at the present time mention a confirmatory in- stance. When yews were found growing in pagan burial-places, it is most unlikely that they would be destroyed or in any way injured. It is far more probable that the trees would be carefully protected. As there is no doubt that in later times yews were regarded as symbolic of happiness, we may well believe that our Christian fore- fathers entertained devotion to these stately ornaments of their burial-places, and pro- tected these living objects which filled the minds of so many with thoughts of a blissful future.

Sir Walter Scott was far better acquainted with the folk-lore of Scotland than any of his contemporaries, and he thus describes the fiery cross by which the clansmen were gathered for battle :

A slender crosslet form'd with care,

A cubit's length in measure due

The shaft and limbs were rods of yew.

' Lady of the Lake,' Canto III. st. viii. Had Scott not known that it was a mystic tree and that its branches were used for what was regarded as a summons for men to do their duty to those of their clan, it is very improbable that he would have introduced it into his verse. Whether there is any earlier testimony than his own that the fiery cross was made of yew I do not know ; if there be, it would be well that attention should be drawn to it.