weddings. They are all plants which fade not a good while after they are
gathered, and used (as I conceive) to intimate unto us that the remembrance of
the present solemnity might not die presently (at once), but be kept in mind for
many years."
The yew has from time immemorial been planted in churchyards
besides being used at funerals. Paris, in "Romeo and Juliet", (Act v. sc. 3),
says:--
"Under yon yew trees lay thee all along,
Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground;
So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread,
Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves,
But thou shall hear it."
Shakespeare also refers to the custom of sticking yew in the shroud in
the following song in "Twelfth Night" (Act ii. sc. 4):--
"My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
Oh, prepare it;
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it."
Unhappy lovers had garlands of willow, yew, and rosemary laid on
their biers, an allusion to which occurs in the "Maid's Tragedy":--
"Lay a garland on my hearse
Of the dismal yew;
Maidens, willow branches bear--
Say I died true.
My love was false, but I was firm
From my hour of birth;
Upon my buried body lie
Lightly, gentle earth."
Among further funeral customs may be mentioned that of carrying a
garland of flowers and sweet herbs before a maiden's coffin, and
afterwards suspending it in the church. Nichols, in his "History of
Lancashire" (vol. ii. pt. i. 382), speaking of Waltham in Framland
Hundred, says: "In this church under every arch a garland is suspended,
one of which is customarily placed there whenever any young
unmarried woman dies." It is to this custom Gay feelingly alludes:--
"To her sweet mem'ry flowing garlands strung,
On her now empty seat aloft were hung."