FOOTNOTES:

“When roses in the gardens grew,And not in ribbons on a shoe:Now ribbon roses take such placeThat garden roses want their grace.”

Again, in “King John” (i. 1), where the Bastard alludes to the three-farthing silver pieces of Queen Elizabeth, which were extremely thin, and had the profile of the sovereign, with a rose on the back of her head, there doubtless is a fuller reference to the court fashion of sticking roses in the ear:[551]

“my face so thin,That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose,Lest men should say, ‘Look, where three-farthings goes.’”

Shakespeare also mentions the use of the rose in rose-cakes and rose-water, the former in “Romeo and Juliet” (v. 1), where Romeo speaks of “old cakes of roses,” the latter in “Taming of the Shrew” (Induction, 1):

“Let one attend him with a silver basinFull of rose-water and bestrew’d with flowers.”

Referring to its historical lore, we may mention its famous connection with the Wars of the Roses. In the fatal dispute in the Temple Gardens, Somerset, on the part of Lancaster, says (“1 Henry VI.” ii. 4):

“Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer,But dare maintain the party of the truth,Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me.”

Warwick, on the part of York, replies:

“I love no colours, and, without all colourOf base insinuating flattery,I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet.”

The trailing white dog-rose is commonly considered to have been the one chosen by the House of York. A writer, however, in theQuarterly Review(vol. cxiv.) has shown that the white rose has a very ancient interest for Englishmen, as, long before the brawl in the Temple Gardens, the flower had been connected with one of the most ancient names of our island. The elder Pliny, in discussing the etymology of the word Albion, suggests that the land may have been so named from the white roses which abounded in it. The York and Lancaster rose, with its pale striped flowers, is a variety of the French rose known asRosa Gallica. It became famous when the two emblematical roses, in the persons of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York, at last brought peace and happiness to the country which had been so long divided by internal warfare. The canker-rose referred to by Shakespeare is the wild dog-rose, a name occasionally applied to the common red poppy.

Rosemary.This plant was formerly in very high esteem, and was devoted to various uses. It was supposed to strengthen the memory; hence it was regarded as a symbol of remembrance, and on this account was often given to friends. Thus, in “Hamlet” (iv. 5), where Ophelia seems to be addressing Laertes, she says: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.” In the “Winter’s Tale” (iv. 4) rosemary and rue are beautifully put together:

“For you there’s rosemary and rue; these keepSeeming and savour all the winter long:Grace and remembrance be to you both,And welcome to our shearing!”

Besides being used at weddings, it was also in request at funerals, probably for its odor, and as a token of remembrance of the deceased. Thus the Friar, in “Romeo and Juliet” (iv. 5), says:

“Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemaryOn this fair corse.”

This practice is thus touchingly alluded to by Gay, in his “Pastorals:”

“To shew their love, the neighbours far and nearFollowed, with wistful look, the damsel’s bier:Sprigg’d rosemary the lads and lasses bore,While dismally the parson walk’d before.”

Rosemary, too, was one of the evergreens with which dishes were anciently garnished during the season of Christmas, an allusion to which occurs in “Pericles” (iv. 6): “Marry, come up, my dish of chastity with rosemary and bays.”

Rush.Before the introduction of carpets, the floors of churches and houses were strewed with rushes, a custom to which Shakespeare makes several allusions. In “Taming of the Shrew” (iv. 1), Grumio asks: “Is supper ready, the house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept?” and Glendower, in “1 Henry IV.” (iii. 1), says:

“She bids you on the wanton rushes lay you down,And rest your gentle head upon her lap.”

At the coronation of Henry V. (“2 Henry IV.,” v. 5), when the procession is coming, the grooms cry, “More rushes! more rushes!” which seems to have been the usual cry for rushes to be scattered on a pavement or a platform when a procession was approaching.[552]Again, in “Richard II.” (i. 3), the custom is further alluded to by John of Gaunt, who speaks of “the presence strew’d,” referring to the presence-chamber. So, too, in “Cymbeline” (ii. 2), Iachimo soliloquizes:

“Tarquin thusDid softly press the rushes, ere he waken’dThe chastity he wounded.”

And in “Romeo and Juliet” (i. 4), Romeo says:

“Let wantons, light of heart,Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels;”

an expression which Middleton has borrowed in his “BluntMaster Constable,” 1602:

“Bid him, whose heart no sorrow feels,Tickle the rushes with his wanton heels,I have too much lead at mine.”

In the “Two Noble Kinsmen” (ii. 1) the Gaoler’s Daughter is represented carrying “strewings” for the two prisoners’ chamber.

Rush-bearings were a sort of rural festival, when the parishioners brought rushes to strew the church.[553]

The “rush-ring” appears to have been a kind of token for plighting of troth among rustic lovers. It was afterwards vilely used, however, for mock-marriages, as appears from one of the Constitutions of Salisbury. In “All’s Well that Ends Well” (ii. 2) there seems a covert allusion to the rush-ring: “As Tib’s rush for Tom’s fore-finger.” Spenser, in the “Shepherd’s Kalendar,” speaks of

“The knotted rush-rings and gilt Rosemarie.”

Du Breul, in his “Antiquities of Paris,”[554]mentions the rush-ring as “a kind of espousal used in France by such persons as meant to live together in a state of concubinage; but in England it was scarcely ever practised except by designing men, for the purpose of corrupting those young women to whom they pretended love.”

The “rush candle,” which, in times past, was found in nearly every house, and served as a night-light for the rich and candle for the poor, is mentioned in “Taming of the Shrew” (iv. 5):

“be it moon, or sun, or what you please:An if you please to call it a rush candle,Henceforth, I vow, it shall be so for me.”

Saffron.In the following passage (“All’s Well that Ends Well,” iv. 5) there seems to be an allusion[555]by Lafeu to thefashionable and fantastic custom of wearing yellow, and to that of coloring paste with saffron: “No, no, no, your son was misled with a snipt-taffeta fellow there, whose villanous saffron would have made all the unbaked and doughy youth of a nation in his colour.”

Spear-grass.This plant—perhaps the common reed—is noticed in “1 Henry IV.” (ii. 4) as used for tickling the nose and making it bleed. In Lupton’s “Notable Things” it is mentioned as part of a medical recipe: “Whoever is tormented with sciatica or the hip-gout, let them take an herb called spear-grass, and stamp it, and lay a little thereof upon the grief.” Mr. Ellacombe[556]thinks that the plant alluded to is the common couch-grass (Triticum repens), which is still known in the eastern counties as spear-grass.

Stover.This word, which is often found in the writings of Shakespeare’s day, denotes fodder and provision of all sorts for cattle. In Cambridgeshire stover signifies hay made of coarse, rank grass, such as even cows will not eat while it is green. In “The Tempest” (iv. 1), Iris says:

“Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,And flat meads thatch’d with stover, them to keep.”

According to Steevens, stover was used as a thatch for cart-lodges and other buildings that required but cheap coverings.

Strawberry.Shakespeare’s mention of the strawberry in connection with the nettle, in “Henry V.” (i. 1),

“The strawberry grows underneath the nettle,And wholesome berries thrive and ripen bestNeighbour’d by fruit of baser quality,”

deserves, says Mr. Ellacombe, a passing note. “It was the common opinion in his day that plants were affected by the neighborhood of other plants to such an extent that they imbibed each others virtues and faults. Thus sweet flowers were planted near fruit-trees with the idea of improving theflavor of the fruit, and evil-smelling trees, like the elder, were carefully cleared away from fruit-trees, lest they should be tainted. But the strawberry was supposed to be an exception to the rule, and was said to thrive in the midst of ‘evil communications, without being corrupted.’”

Thorns.The popular tradition, which represents the marks on the moon[557]to be that of a man carrying a thorn-bush on his head, is alluded to in “Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (v. 1), in the Prologue:

“This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn,Presenteth Moonshine.”

Little else is mentioned by Shakespeare with regard to thorns, save that they are generally used by him as the emblems of desolation and trouble.

Violets.An old superstition is alluded to by Shakespeare when he makes Laertes wish that violets may spring from the grave of Ophelia (“Hamlet,” v. 1):

“Lay her i’ the earth:And from her fair and unpolluted fleshMay violets spring!”

an idea which occurs in Persius’s “Satires” (i. 39):

“E tumulo fortunataque favillaNascentur violæ.”

The violet has generally been associated with early death. This, Mr. Ellacombe considers,[558]“may have arisen from a sort of pity for flowers that were only allowed to see the opening year, and were cut off before the first beauty of summer had come, and so were looked upon as apt emblems of those who enjoyed the bright springtide of life, and no more.” Thus, the violet is one of the flowers which Marina carries to hang “as a carpet on the grave” in “Pericles” (iv. 1):

“the yellows, blues,The purple violets, and marigolds,Shall, as a carpet, hang upon thy grave,While summer days do last.”

Again, in that exquisite passage in the “Winter’s Tale” (iv. 4), where Perdita enumerates the flowers of spring, she speaks of,

“violets, dim,But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes,Or Cytherea’s breath;”

upon which Mr. Singer[559]thus comments: “The eyes of Juno were as remarkable as those of Pallas, and

‘Of a beauty never yetEqualled in height of tincture.’”

The beauties of Greece and other Asiatic nations tinged their eyes of an obscure violet color, by means of some unguent, which was doubtless perfumed, like those for the hair, etc., mentioned by Athenæus.

Willow.From time immemorial the willow has been regarded as the symbol of sadness. Hence it was customary for those who were forsaken in love to wear willow garlands, a practice to which Shakespeare makes several allusions. In “Othello” (iv. 3), Desdemona, anticipating her death, says:

“My mother had a maid call’d Barbara;She was in love; and he she lov’d prov’d mad,And did forsake her: she had a song of—Willow;An old thing ’twas, but it express’d her fortune,And she died singing it: that song, to-night,Will not go from my mind.”

The following is the song:[560]

“The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,Sing all a green willow:Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,Sing willow, willow, willow:The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur’d her moans,Sing willow, willow, willow:Her salt tears fell from her, and soften’d the stones,Sing willow, willow, willow:Sing all a green willow must be my garland.”

And further on Emilia says (v. 2):

“I will play the swan,And die in music.—[Singing] ‘Willow, willow, willow.’”

And, again, Lorenzo, in “Merchant of Venice” (v. 1), narrates:

“In such a nightStood Dido, with a willow in her hand,Upon the wild sea-banks.”

It was, too, in reference to this custom that Shakespeare, in “Hamlet” (iv. 7), represented poor Ophelia hanging her flowers on the “willow aslant a brook.” “This tree,” says Douce,[561]“might have been chosen as the symbol of sadness from the cxxxvii. Psalm (verse 2): ‘We hanged our harps upon the willows;’ or else from a coincidence between theweeping-willow and falling tears.” Another reason has been assigned. TheAgnus castuswas 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.”

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 nippleOf 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 fightAgainst 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 ipsæ, propter ventorum impetus ne ecclesiis noceant, sæpe plantantur.”[563]

The custom of sticking yew in the shroud is alluded to in the following song in “Twelfth Night” (ii. 4):

“My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,O, prepare it!My part of death, no one so trueDid share it.”

Through being reckoned poisonous, it is introduced in “Macbeth” (iv. 1) in connection with the witches:

“Gall of goat, and slips of yew,Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse.”

“How much the splitting or tearing off of the slip had to do with magic we learn from a piece of Slavonic folk-lore. It is unlucky to use for a beam a branch or a tree broken by the wind. The devil, or storm-spirit, claims it as his own, and, were it used, the evil spirit would haunt the house. It is a broken branch the witches choose; a sliver’d slip the woodman will have none of.”[564]

Its epithet, “double-fatal” (“Richard II.,” iii. 2), no doubt refers to the poisonous quality of the leaves, and on account of its wood being employed for instruments of death. Sir Stephen Scroop, when telling Richard of Bolingbroke’s revolt, declares that

“Thy very beadsmen learn to bend their bowsOf double-fatal yew against thy state.”

It has been suggested that the poison intended by the Ghost in “Hamlet” (i. 5), when he speaks of the “juice of cursed hebenon,” is that of the yew, and is the same as Marlowe’s “juice of hebon” (“Jew of Malta,” iii. 4). The yew is called hebon by Spenser and by other writers of Shakespeare’s age; and, in its various forms of eben, eiben, hiben, etc., this tree is so named in no less than five different European languages. From medical authorities, both of ancient and modern times, it would seem that the juice of the yew is a rapidly fatal poison; next, that the symptoms attendant upon yew-poisoning correspond, in a very remarkable manner, with those which follow the bites of poisonous snakes; and, lastly, that no other poison but the yew produces the “lazar-like” ulcerations on the body upon whichShakespeare, in this passage, lays so much stress.[565]

Among the other explanations of this passage is the well-known one which identifies “hebenon” with henbane. Mr. Beisly suggests that nightshade may be meant, while Nares considers that ebony is meant.[566]

From certain ancient statutes it appears that every Englishman, while archery was practised, was obliged to keep in his house either a bow of yew or some other wood.[567]

FOOTNOTES:[450]Aconitum napellus, Wolf’s-bane or Monk’s-hood.[451]“Miseros fallunt aconita legentis” (Georgics, bk. ii. l. 152).[452]See Ellacombe’s “Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” 1878, pp. 7, 8.[453]Dr. Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” 1870, pp. 1, 2.[454]Phillips, “Flora Historica,” 1829, vol. ii. pp. 122, 128.[455]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” pp. 10, 11.[456]Phillips, “Flora Historica,” 1829, vol. i. p. 104.[457]Ellacombe’s “Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 13.[458]Dyce’s “Glossary to Shakespeare,” p. 15.[459]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 29; probably synonymous with the term “apple-Squire,” which formerly signified a pimp.[460]Forby, in his “Vocabulary of East Anglia,” says of this apple, “we retain the name, but whether we mean the same variety of fruit which was so called in Shakespeare’s time, it is not possible to ascertain.”[461]Ellacombe’s “Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 16; Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 430; Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 81; Coles’s “Latin and English Dictionary.” “A bitter-suete [apple]—Amari-mellum.”[462]Seechapter xi., Customs connected with the Calendar.[463]Seechapter on Customs connected with Birth and Baptism.[464]Edited by Dyce, 1861, p. 446. Many fanciful derivations for this word have been thought of, but it was no doubt named from its smoothness and softness, resembling the wool of lambs.[465]Dr. Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” 1870, p. 50.[466]Note on Jonson’s Works, vol. iv. p. 24.[467]Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 242.[468]Quoted by Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 662.[469]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 16.[470]“Theatrum Botanicum,” 1640.[471]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” pp. 17, 37.[472]“Glossary,” pp. 65, 66.[473]See “Notes and Queries,” 2d series, bk. i. p. 420.[474]See Henderson’s “Folk-Lore of Northern Counties,” 1879, pp. 151, 152.[475]Napier’s “Folk-Lore of West of Scotland,” 1879, p. 124.[476]Dr. Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” p. 13.[477]Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 45.[478]See “Richard III.,” i. 2; “Timon of Athens,” iii. 5.[479]See “2 Henry IV.,” iv. 5.[480]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 22.[481]Ellacombe’s “Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 23.[482]See Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 32.[483]See also Evelyn’s “Sylva,” 1776, p. 396.[484]“Glossary,” vol. i. p. 150; see Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 63.[485]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 212.[486]“Shakespeare’s Garden,” p. 143.[487]See “Winter’s Tale,” iv. 4:“Lawn as white as driven snow;Cyprus black as e’er was crow.”Its transparency is alluded to in “Twelfth Night,” iii. 1:“a cyprus, not a bosom,Hides my heart.”[488]See Dyce’s “Glossary,” 1872, p. 113.[489]Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” 1839, p. 56. See Mr. Gough’s “Introduction to Sepulchral Monuments,” p. lxvi.; also Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 221.[490]See Dr. Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” 1870, p. 63.[491]“Flower-Lore,” p. 35.[492]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 66.[493]Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 302; Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 159.[494]“Shakspere’s Garden,” p. 158.[495]Quoted in Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 303.[496]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. pp. 314-316.[497]“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” pp. 302-308.[498]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 305.[499]See Gifford’s note on Jonson’s Works, vol. i. p. 52; Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 161; Du Cange’s “Glossary;” Connelly’s “Spanish and English Dictionary,” 4to.[500]Edited by Dyce, 1857, p. 30.[501]Edited by Gifford and Dyce, vol. i. p. 231.[502]“Glossary,” p. 161.[503]See “Winter’s Tale,” iv. 3; “Henry V.,” v. 2; “1 Henry VI.,” i. 1.[504]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 73.[505]“Nares’s Glossary,” vol. i. p. 363.[506]“Shakespeare’s Garden,” p. 82; see Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 184.[507]Ellacombe’s “Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 204; Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” 1870, p. 111.[508]Cf. “All’s Well that Ends Well,” iv. 5; “Antony and Cleopatra,” iv. 2; “Romeo and Juliet,” ii. 3, where Friar Laurence says:“In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will.”[509]“A Dissuasive from Popery,” pt. i. chap. ii. sec. 9; see Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 371.[510]Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 464.[511]Batman’s “Upon Bartholomæus de Proprietate Rerum,” lib. xvii. chap. 87.[512]“Glossary,” vol. i. p. 465.[513]See Hotten’s “History of Sign Boards.”[514]“Shakespeare,” vol. iii. p. 112.[515]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 482.[516]“Popular Names of British Plants,” 1879, p. 128.[517]Polygonum aviculare.[518]See “3 Henry VI.,” iv. 6; “Troilus and Cressida,” i. 3.[519]See “Henry V.,” iv. 1.[520]“Cambrian Biography,” 1803, p. 86; see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. pp. 102-108.[521]See Dr. Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” 1870, p. 139.[522]Cf. “Taming of the Shrew,” i. 1.[523]Cf. what Egeus says (i. 1) when speaking of Lysander:“This man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child;Thou, thou Lysander, thou hast given her rhymesAnd interchanged love-tokens with my child.”[524]Dian’s bud is the bud of theAgnus castus, or chaste tree. “The virtue this herbe is, that he will kepe man and woman chaste.” “Macer’s Herbal,” 1527.[525]Cupid’s flower, another name for the pansy.[526]Notes to “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream,” 1877. Preface, p. xx.[527]“Natural History,” bk. xxv. chap. 94.[528]Phillips’s “Flora Historica,” 1829, vol. i. pp. 324, 325; see Smith’s “Dictionary of the Bible,” 1869, vol. ii. p. 1777.[529]“Mystic Trees and Flowers,” by M. D. Conway;Fraser’s Magazine, 1870, vol. ii. p. 705.[530]Singer’s “Shakespeare,” 1875, vol. v. p. 153.[531]See Sir Thomas Browne’s “Vulgar Errors,” 1852, vol. ii. p. 6.[532]“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 386.[533]See page15.[534]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 131.[535]Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 612.[536]See “Windsor Guide,” p. 5.[537]See “Notes and Queries,” 3d series, vol. xii. p. 160.[538]See also “3 Henry VI.,” iv. 6; “Timon of Athens,” v. 4; “Antony and Cleopatra,” iv. 6; “2 Henry IV.,” iv. 4.[539]See “As You Like It,” iii. 2; “Timon of Athens,” v. 1; cf. “Henry VIII.,” iv. 2.[540]See “Archæological Journal,” vol. v. p. 301.[541]The cod was what we now call the pod.[542]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. p. 99.[543]See “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” iii. 1.[544]“Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 677.[545]See Beaumont and Fletcher, “Elder Brother,” iv. 4; Massinger, “New Way to Pay Old Debts,” ii. 2; Ben Jonson, “Cynthia’s Revels,” ii. 1, etc.[546]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 173.[547]Ibid., p. 179.[548]Singer’s “Shakespeare,” 1875, vol. ix. p. 227.[549]“Notes to Hamlet,” Clark and Wright, 1876, p. 179.[550]“Costume in England,” p. 238. At p. 579 the author gives several instances of the extravagances to which this fashion led.[551]Some gallants had their ears bored, and wore their mistresses’ silken shoe-strings in them. See Singer’s “Notes,” vol. iv. p. 257.[552]Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 373.[553]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14.[554]Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” 1839, p. 194.[555]Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 381.[556]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 319.[557]See p.68.[558]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 248.[559]“Shakespeare,” vol. iv. p. 76.[560]“The old ballad on which Shakespeare formed this song is given in Percy’s ‘Reliques of Ancient Poetry’ (1794, vol. i. p. 208), from a copy in the Pepysian collection. A different version of it may be seen in Chappell’s ‘Popular Music of the Olden Time’ (2d edition, vol. i. p. 207). The original ditty is the lamentation of a lover for the inconstancy of his mistress.”—Dyce’s “Shakespeare,” vol. vii. p. 450.[561]“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 105.[562]Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 244.[563]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 255-266.[564]“Notes and Queries,” 5th series, vol. xii. p. 468.[565]Extract of a paper read by Rev. W. A. Harrison, New Shakespeare Society, 12th May. 1882.[566]See Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare;” Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 412; Beisly’s “Shakespeare’s Garden,” p. 4.[567]Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. iv. p. 427. See a paper in the “Antiquary” (1882, vol. vi. p. 13), by Mr. George Black, on the yew in Shakespearian folk-lore.

[450]Aconitum napellus, Wolf’s-bane or Monk’s-hood.

[451]“Miseros fallunt aconita legentis” (Georgics, bk. ii. l. 152).

[452]See Ellacombe’s “Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” 1878, pp. 7, 8.

[453]Dr. Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” 1870, pp. 1, 2.

[454]Phillips, “Flora Historica,” 1829, vol. ii. pp. 122, 128.

[455]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” pp. 10, 11.

[456]Phillips, “Flora Historica,” 1829, vol. i. p. 104.

[457]Ellacombe’s “Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 13.

[458]Dyce’s “Glossary to Shakespeare,” p. 15.

[459]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 29; probably synonymous with the term “apple-Squire,” which formerly signified a pimp.

[460]Forby, in his “Vocabulary of East Anglia,” says of this apple, “we retain the name, but whether we mean the same variety of fruit which was so called in Shakespeare’s time, it is not possible to ascertain.”

[461]Ellacombe’s “Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 16; Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 430; Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 81; Coles’s “Latin and English Dictionary.” “A bitter-suete [apple]—Amari-mellum.”

[462]Seechapter xi., Customs connected with the Calendar.

[463]Seechapter on Customs connected with Birth and Baptism.

[464]Edited by Dyce, 1861, p. 446. Many fanciful derivations for this word have been thought of, but it was no doubt named from its smoothness and softness, resembling the wool of lambs.

[465]Dr. Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” 1870, p. 50.

[466]Note on Jonson’s Works, vol. iv. p. 24.

[467]Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 242.

[468]Quoted by Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 662.

[469]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 16.

[470]“Theatrum Botanicum,” 1640.

[471]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” pp. 17, 37.

[472]“Glossary,” pp. 65, 66.

[473]See “Notes and Queries,” 2d series, bk. i. p. 420.

[474]See Henderson’s “Folk-Lore of Northern Counties,” 1879, pp. 151, 152.

[475]Napier’s “Folk-Lore of West of Scotland,” 1879, p. 124.

[476]Dr. Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” p. 13.

[477]Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 45.

[478]See “Richard III.,” i. 2; “Timon of Athens,” iii. 5.

[479]See “2 Henry IV.,” iv. 5.

[480]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 22.

[481]Ellacombe’s “Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 23.

[482]See Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 32.

[483]See also Evelyn’s “Sylva,” 1776, p. 396.

[484]“Glossary,” vol. i. p. 150; see Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 63.

[485]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 212.

[486]“Shakespeare’s Garden,” p. 143.

[487]See “Winter’s Tale,” iv. 4:“Lawn as white as driven snow;Cyprus black as e’er was crow.”Its transparency is alluded to in “Twelfth Night,” iii. 1:“a cyprus, not a bosom,Hides my heart.”

[487]See “Winter’s Tale,” iv. 4:

“Lawn as white as driven snow;Cyprus black as e’er was crow.”

Its transparency is alluded to in “Twelfth Night,” iii. 1:

“a cyprus, not a bosom,Hides my heart.”

[488]See Dyce’s “Glossary,” 1872, p. 113.

[489]Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” 1839, p. 56. See Mr. Gough’s “Introduction to Sepulchral Monuments,” p. lxvi.; also Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 221.

[490]See Dr. Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” 1870, p. 63.

[491]“Flower-Lore,” p. 35.

[492]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 66.

[493]Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 302; Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 159.

[494]“Shakspere’s Garden,” p. 158.

[495]Quoted in Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 303.

[496]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. pp. 314-316.

[497]“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” pp. 302-308.

[498]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 305.

[499]See Gifford’s note on Jonson’s Works, vol. i. p. 52; Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 161; Du Cange’s “Glossary;” Connelly’s “Spanish and English Dictionary,” 4to.

[500]Edited by Dyce, 1857, p. 30.

[501]Edited by Gifford and Dyce, vol. i. p. 231.

[502]“Glossary,” p. 161.

[503]See “Winter’s Tale,” iv. 3; “Henry V.,” v. 2; “1 Henry VI.,” i. 1.

[504]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 73.

[505]“Nares’s Glossary,” vol. i. p. 363.

[506]“Shakespeare’s Garden,” p. 82; see Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 184.

[507]Ellacombe’s “Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 204; Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” 1870, p. 111.

[508]Cf. “All’s Well that Ends Well,” iv. 5; “Antony and Cleopatra,” iv. 2; “Romeo and Juliet,” ii. 3, where Friar Laurence says:“In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will.”

[508]Cf. “All’s Well that Ends Well,” iv. 5; “Antony and Cleopatra,” iv. 2; “Romeo and Juliet,” ii. 3, where Friar Laurence says:

“In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will.”

[509]“A Dissuasive from Popery,” pt. i. chap. ii. sec. 9; see Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 371.

[510]Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 464.

[511]Batman’s “Upon Bartholomæus de Proprietate Rerum,” lib. xvii. chap. 87.

[512]“Glossary,” vol. i. p. 465.

[513]See Hotten’s “History of Sign Boards.”

[514]“Shakespeare,” vol. iii. p. 112.

[515]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 482.

[516]“Popular Names of British Plants,” 1879, p. 128.

[517]Polygonum aviculare.

[518]See “3 Henry VI.,” iv. 6; “Troilus and Cressida,” i. 3.

[519]See “Henry V.,” iv. 1.

[520]“Cambrian Biography,” 1803, p. 86; see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. pp. 102-108.

[521]See Dr. Prior’s “Popular Names of British Plants,” 1870, p. 139.

[522]Cf. “Taming of the Shrew,” i. 1.

[523]Cf. what Egeus says (i. 1) when speaking of Lysander:“This man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child;Thou, thou Lysander, thou hast given her rhymesAnd interchanged love-tokens with my child.”

[523]Cf. what Egeus says (i. 1) when speaking of Lysander:

“This man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child;Thou, thou Lysander, thou hast given her rhymesAnd interchanged love-tokens with my child.”

[524]Dian’s bud is the bud of theAgnus castus, or chaste tree. “The virtue this herbe is, that he will kepe man and woman chaste.” “Macer’s Herbal,” 1527.

[525]Cupid’s flower, another name for the pansy.

[526]Notes to “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream,” 1877. Preface, p. xx.

[527]“Natural History,” bk. xxv. chap. 94.

[528]Phillips’s “Flora Historica,” 1829, vol. i. pp. 324, 325; see Smith’s “Dictionary of the Bible,” 1869, vol. ii. p. 1777.

[529]“Mystic Trees and Flowers,” by M. D. Conway;Fraser’s Magazine, 1870, vol. ii. p. 705.

[530]Singer’s “Shakespeare,” 1875, vol. v. p. 153.

[531]See Sir Thomas Browne’s “Vulgar Errors,” 1852, vol. ii. p. 6.

[532]“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 386.

[533]See page15.

[534]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 131.

[535]Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 612.

[536]See “Windsor Guide,” p. 5.

[537]See “Notes and Queries,” 3d series, vol. xii. p. 160.

[538]See also “3 Henry VI.,” iv. 6; “Timon of Athens,” v. 4; “Antony and Cleopatra,” iv. 6; “2 Henry IV.,” iv. 4.

[539]See “As You Like It,” iii. 2; “Timon of Athens,” v. 1; cf. “Henry VIII.,” iv. 2.

[540]See “Archæological Journal,” vol. v. p. 301.

[541]The cod was what we now call the pod.

[542]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. p. 99.

[543]See “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” iii. 1.

[544]“Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 677.

[545]See Beaumont and Fletcher, “Elder Brother,” iv. 4; Massinger, “New Way to Pay Old Debts,” ii. 2; Ben Jonson, “Cynthia’s Revels,” ii. 1, etc.

[546]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 173.

[547]Ibid., p. 179.

[548]Singer’s “Shakespeare,” 1875, vol. ix. p. 227.

[549]“Notes to Hamlet,” Clark and Wright, 1876, p. 179.

[550]“Costume in England,” p. 238. At p. 579 the author gives several instances of the extravagances to which this fashion led.

[551]Some gallants had their ears bored, and wore their mistresses’ silken shoe-strings in them. See Singer’s “Notes,” vol. iv. p. 257.

[552]Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 373.

[553]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14.

[554]Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” 1839, p. 194.

[555]Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 381.

[556]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 319.

[557]See p.68.

[558]“Plant-Lore of Shakespeare,” p. 248.

[559]“Shakespeare,” vol. iv. p. 76.

[560]“The old ballad on which Shakespeare formed this song is given in Percy’s ‘Reliques of Ancient Poetry’ (1794, vol. i. p. 208), from a copy in the Pepysian collection. A different version of it may be seen in Chappell’s ‘Popular Music of the Olden Time’ (2d edition, vol. i. p. 207). The original ditty is the lamentation of a lover for the inconstancy of his mistress.”—Dyce’s “Shakespeare,” vol. vii. p. 450.

[561]“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 105.

[562]Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 244.

[563]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 255-266.

[564]“Notes and Queries,” 5th series, vol. xii. p. 468.

[565]Extract of a paper read by Rev. W. A. Harrison, New Shakespeare Society, 12th May. 1882.

[566]See Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare;” Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 412; Beisly’s “Shakespeare’s Garden,” p. 4.

[567]Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. iv. p. 427. See a paper in the “Antiquary” (1882, vol. vi. p. 13), by Mr. George Black, on the yew in Shakespearian folk-lore.

AsDr. Johnson has truly remarked, Shakespeare is “the poet of nature,” for “his attention was not confined to the actions of men; he was an exact surveyor of the inanimate world; his descriptions have always some peculiarity, gathered by contemplating things as they really exist. Whether life or nature be his subject, Shakespeare shows plainly that he has seen with his own eyes.” So, too, he was in the habit of taking minute observation of the popular notions relating to natural history, so many of which he has introduced into his plays, using them to no small advantage. In numerous cases, also, the peculiarities of certain natural objects have furnished the poet with many excellent metaphors. Thus, in “Richard II.” (ii. 3), Bolingbroke speaks of “the caterpillars of the commonwealth;” and in “2 Henry VI.” (iii. 1) the Duke of York’s reflection on the destruction of his hopes is,

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