Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/70

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. iv. J UL Y 22, mi.

lying beneath its sombre shade, is describee by Tennyson in ' In Memoriam ' :

Old Yew, which graspest at the stones That name the underlying dead, Thy fibres net the dreamless head,

Thy roots are wrapt about the bones. In the ' Herbal ' of 1578 Lyte tells us that the yew is altogether venomous, and against man's nature. Such as do but sleep under the shadow thereof become sick and .sometimes die. Of the deleterious and poisonous nature of the foliage and bark of the tender shoots of the yew, both to human beings and to certain animals, there can scarcely be a doubt. In regard to animals, it is only when the yew is taken in large quantity or unmixed with other food that the effects prove fatal. Loudon mentions that in the mountains of Hanover and Hesse the peasants feed their cattle in part with the branches of the yew during the winter ; but, knowing the poisonous nature of the tree, they begin by giving very little, and mixed with other forage; afterwards they gradually augment the quantity. The red berries or their coloured fleshy cups are not harmful when eaten, but the seeds, containing the poisonous principle of the leaves, should be rejected. The yew is remarkable for its slow growth, five-year-old plants after having been trans- planted a year not averaging more than a foot in height ; and at the age of ten years, when reared in nurseries upon the plan usually followed, they are seldom more than a yard high. Therefore to suppose that the yew was specially cultivated to furnish that formidable weapon the long bow is not reasonable. The trees were already plenti- ful, and, as they were held in high and deserved esteem, no doubt every care was taken to ensure their preservation. In the fifth year of Edward IV. every Englishman, and every Irishman dwelling with English- men, was directed, by statute, to have a bow of his own height, made of yew, wych- hazel, ash, or awlune (laburnum). Thus a great quantity of the wood of the yew was consumed at one period by the bow-makers or fletchers of England. On the subject of archery I will quote only ' Richard II.,' III. ii. 116 :

Thy very beadsmen learn to bend their bo\vs Of double-fatal yew against thy state.

It was " double-fatal " because the leaves and fruit seeds are poisonous, and the bows made from its branches were instruments of death.

After the introduction of firearms, and particularly in the time of Evelyn, the yew

became an ornament for hedges of gardens, and was fashioned into the forms of birds, animals, cones, pyramids, and other fantas- tic devices. In the reign of William III. it ceased to be employed as a hedge plant in the manner described, and since that time its cultivation has been greatly neglected. Almost banished from the precincts of our residences and pleasure grounds, it is only associated with scenes of melancholy and the grave. TOM JONES.

EDWARD VII. IN ' PUNCH ' AS BABY AND AS BOY. The earliest picture of the late King appears to be that drawn by Kenny Meadows, 11 February, 1843, when he was about fifteen months old. Queen Vic- toria is pointing to his first tooth, while a lady of the Court handles a puppet for his amusement, and Archbishop Howley (just 77 years old) plays to him on a penny trumpet.

In the Almanack for August of the same year Leech draws oyster-grottoes (who now sees them .?) and the Queen, with the prince in her arms, and the princess at her left side.

In the preface to vol. xiii. Punch and his family are seated at a table, on which stands a towering Christmas tree. This very beautiful piece is by Doyle. On the tree are Pope Gregory XVI., Louis Philippe, Wellington, Peel, Lord John, Brougham, Disraeli, and others. The Royal Family occupies the topmost branch the Queen, Prince Albert, and five children the date being July, 1847.

About three years later the future Edward VII., *' Every inch a sailor," is 011 tiptoe, handing a glass of grog to Jack Tar : signature, the familiar leech in a bottle.

In the Preface to vol. xxvi., July, 1854, we have the Royal Family in the Crystal Palace Gardens at Sydenham : a rather early example of Tenhiel.

This note does not pretend to be exhaus- tive. RICHARD H. THORNTON.

36, Upper Bedford Place, W.C.

LONGINUS AND ST. PAUL. It is well known that the ascription to Longinus of the authorship of the treatise ' On the Sublime ' is nowadays much disputed : it is also well known that the treatise in question contains a remarkable reference to Moses.

An extremely similar reference to St. Paul (not to be found in the treatise '-On Sublime ') is said to have been made by Longinus. This fact would seem to support