The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare Part 120

"In the spring and play-time of the year, . . . . the little ones, a sportive team, Gather king-cups in the yellow mead, And prank their hair with Daisies."--COWPER.

It is then the special flower of childhood, but we cannot entirely give it up to our children. And I have tried to show you that the humble Daisy has been the delight of many n.o.ble minds, and may be a fit subject of study even for those children of a larger growth who form the "Bath Field Club."

FOOTNOTES:

[362:1] "In the curious Treatise of the Virtues of Herbs, Royal MS. 18, a. vi, fol. 72 b, is mentioned: 'Brysewort, or Bonwort, or Daysye, _consolida minor_, good to breke bocches.'"--_Promptorium Parvulorum_, p. 52, note. See also a good note on the same word in "Babee's Book," p.

185.

[366:1] This is the general interpretation, but "decking prime" may mean the ornament of spring.

[370:1] This statement has been objected to, but I retain it, because in speaking of a meadow, I mean what is called a meadow in the south of England, a lowland, and often irrigated, pasture. In such a meadow Daisies have no place. In the North the word is more loosely used for any pasture, but in the South the distinction is so closely drawn that hay dealers make a great difference in their prices for "upland" or "meadow hay."

[372:1] "Modern Painters," vol. ii. p. 186.

[374:1] In the "Cornhill Magazine" for January, 1878, is a pleasant paper on "Dissecting a Daisy," treating a little of the Daisy, but still more of the pleasures that a Daisy gives to different people, and the different reasons for the different sorts of pleasure. See also on the same subject the "Cornhill" for June, 1882.

[377:1] Boulger in "Nature," Aug., 1878. The insects are given in Herman Muller's "Befructting der Blumen."

[377:2] "Haven of Health," 1596, p. 83.

APPENDIX II.

_THE SEASONS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS._

_Biron._ I like of each thing that in season grows.

_Love's Labour's Lost_, act i, sc. 1.

This paper was read to the New Shakespeare Society in June, 1880, and to the Bath Literary Club in the following November. The subject is so closely connected with the "Plant-lore of Shakespeare," that I add it as an Appendix.

THE SEASONS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS.

In this paper I do not propose to make any exhaustive inquiry into the seasons of Shakespeare's plays, but (at Mr. Furnivall's suggestion) I have tried to find out whether in any case the season that was in the poet's mind can be discovered by the flowers or fruits, or whether, where the season is otherwise indicated, the flowers and fruits are in accordance. In other words, my inquiry is simply confined to the argument, if any, that may be derived from the flowers and fruits, leaving out of the question all other indications of the seasons.

The first part of the inquiry is, what plants or flowers are mentioned in each play? They are as follows:--

COMEDIES.

_Tempest._ Apple, crab, wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats, peas, briar, furze, gorse, thorns, broom, cedar, corn, cowslip, nettle, docks, mallow, filbert, heath, ling, gra.s.s, nut, ivy, lily, piony, lime, mushrooms, oak, acorn, pignuts, pine, reed, saffron, sedges, stover, vine.

_Two Gentlemen of Verona._ Lily, roses, sedges.

_Merry Wives._ Pippins, b.u.t.tons (?), balm, bilberry, cabbage, carrot, elder, eringoes, figs, flax, hawthorn, oak, pear, plums, prunes, potatoes, pumpion, roses, turnips, walnut.

_Twelfth Night._ Apple, box, ebony, flax, nettle, olive, squash, peascod, codling, roses, violet, willow, yew.

_Measure for Measure._ Birch, burs, corn, garlick, medlar, oak, myrtle, peach, prunes, grapes, vine, violet.

_Much Ado._ Carduus benedictus, honeysuckle, woodbine, oak, orange, rose, sedges, willow.

_Midsummer Night's Dream._ Crab, apricots, beans, briar, red rose, broom, bur, cherry, corn, cowslip, dewberries, oxlip, violet, woodbine, eglantine, elm, ivy, figs, mulberries, garlick, onions, gra.s.s, hawthorn, nuts, hemp, honeysuckle, knot-gra.s.s, leek, lily, peas, peas-blossom, oak, acorn, oats, orange, love-in-idleness, primrose, musk-rose buds, musk-roses, rose, thistle, thorns, thyme, grapes, violet, wheat.

_Love's Labour's Lost._ Apple, pomewater, crab, cedar, lemon, c.o.c.kle, mint, columbine, corn, daisies, lady-smocks, cuckoo-buds, ebony, elder, gra.s.s, lily, nutmeg, oak, osier, oats, peas, plantain, rose, sycamore, thorns, violets, wormwood.

_Merchant of Venice._ Apple, gra.s.s, pines, reed, wheat, willow.

_As You Like It._ Acorns, hawthorn, brambles, briar, bur, chestnut, cork, nuts, holly, medlar, moss, mustard, oak, olive, palm, peascod, rose, rush, rye, sugar, grape, osier.

_All's Well._ Briar, date, gra.s.s, nut, marjoram, herb of grace, onions, pear, pomegranate, roses, rush, saffron, grapes.

_Taming of Shrew._ Apple, crab, chestnut, cypress, hazel, oats, onion, love-in-idleness, mustard, parsley, roses, rush, sedges, walnut.

_Winter's Tale._ Briars, carnations, gillyflower, cork, oxlips, crown imperial, currants, daffodils, dates, saffron, flax, lilies, flower-de-luce, garlick, ivy, lavender, mints, savory, marjoram, marigold, nettle, oak, warden, squash, pines, prunes, primrose, damask-roses, rice, raisins, rosemary, rue, thorns, violets.

_Comedy of Errors._ Balsam, ivy, briar, moss, rush, nut, cherrystone, elm, vine, gra.s.s, saffron.

HISTORIES.

_King John._ Plum, cherry, fig, lily, rose, violet, rush, thorns.

_Richard II._ Apricots, balm, bay, corn, gra.s.s, nettles, pines, rose, rue, thorns, violets, yew.

_1st Henry IV._ Apple-john, pease, beans, blackberries, camomile, fernseed, garlick, ginger, moss, nettle, oats, prunes, pomegranate, radish, raisins, reeds, rose, rush, sedges, speargra.s.s, thorns.

_2nd Henry IV._ Aconite, apple-john, leathercoats, aspen, balm, carraways, corn, ebony, elm, fennel, fig, gooseberries, hemp, honeysuckle, mandrake, olive, peach, peascod, pippins, prunes, radish, rose, rush, wheat.

_Henry V._ Apple, balm, docks, elder, fig, flower-de-luce, gra.s.s, hemp, leek, nettle, fumitory, kecksies, burs, cowslips, burnet, clover, darnel, strawberry, thistles, vine, violet, hemlock.

_1st Henry VI._ Briar, white and red rose, corn, flower-de-luce, vine.

_2nd Henry VI._ Crab, cedar, corn, cypress, fig, flax, flower-de-luce, gra.s.s, hemp, laurel, mandrake, pine, plums, damsons, primrose, thorns.

_3d Henry VI._ Balm, cedar, corn, hawthorn, oaks, olive, laurel, thorns.

_Richard III._ Balm, cedar, roses, strawberry, vines.

_Henry VIII._ Apple, crab, bays, palms, broom, cherry, cedar, corn, lily, vine.