i. Psalm (verse 2): 'We hanged
our harps upon the willows;' or else from a coincidence between the
_weeping_-willow and falling tears." Another reason has been assigned.
The _Agnus castus_ was supposed to promote chastity, and "the willow
being of a much like nature," says Swan, in his "Speculum Mundi" (1635),
"it is yet a custom that he which is deprived of his love must wear a
willow garland." Bona, the sister of the King of France, on receiving
news of Edward the Fourth's marriage with Elizabeth Grey, exclaimed,

"in hope he'll prove a widower shortly,
I'll wear the willow garland for his sake."

[561] "Illustrations of Shakespeare," p. 105.

_Wormwood._ The use of this plant in weaning infants is alluded to in
"Romeo and Juliet" (i. 3), by Juliet's nurse, in the following passage:

"For I had then laid wormwood to my dug,

* * * * *

When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple
Of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty fool."

_Yew._ This tree, styled by Shakespeare "the dismal yew" ("Titus
Andronicus," ii. 3), apart from the many superstitions associated with
it, has been very frequently planted in churchyards, besides being used
at funerals. Paris, in "Romeo and Juliet" (v. 3), says:

"Under yond 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 shalt hear it."

Although various reasons have been assigned for planting the yew-tree in
churchyards, it seems probable that the practice had a superstitious
origin. As witches were supposed to exercise a powerful influence over
the winds, they were believed occasionally to exert their formidable
power against religious edifices. Thus Macbeth says (iv. 1):

"Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches."

To counteract, therefore, this imaginary danger, our ancestors may have
planted the yew-tree in their churchyards, not only on account of its
vitality as an evergreen, but as connected in some way, in heathen
times, with the influence of evil powers.[562] In a statute made in the
latter part of Edward I.'s reign, to prevent rectors from cutting down
trees in churchyards, we find the following: "Verum arbores ipsae,
propter ventorum impetus ne ecclesiis noceant, saepe plantantur."[563]

[562] Douce's "Illustrations of Sha