The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare Part 62

FOOTNOTES:

[176:1] This a modern reading; the correct reading is "metal."

[177:1]

"Si forte in medio positorum abstemius herbis Vivis et Urtica."--HORACE, _Ep._ i, 10, 8.

"Mihi festa luce coquatar Urtica."--PERSIUS vi, 68.

[178:1] "L'ortie s'etablit partout dans les contrees temperees a la suite de l'homme pour disparaitre bientot si le lieu on elle s'est ainsi implantee cesse d'etre habite."--M. LAVAILLEE, _Sur les Arbres_, &c., 1878.

NUT, _see_ HAZEL.

NUTMEG.

(1) _Dauphin._

He's [the horse] of the colour of the Nutmeg.

_Henry V_, act iii, sc. 7 (20).

(2) _Clown._

I must have . . . Nutmegs Seven.

_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 3 (50).

(3) _Armado._

The omnipotent Mars, of lances the almighty, Gave Hector a gift--

_Dumain._

A gilt Nutmeg.

_Love's Labour's Lost_, act v, sc. 2 (650).

Gerard gives a very fair description of the Nutmeg tree under the names of Nux moschata or Myristica; but it is certain that he had not any personal knowledge of the tree, which was not introduced into England or Europe for nearly 200 years after. Shakespeare could only have known the imported Nut and the Mace which covers the Nut inside the sh.e.l.l, and they were imported long before his time. Chaucer speaks of it as--

"Notemygge to put in ale Whether it be moist or stale, Or for to lay in cofre."--_Sir Thopas._

And in another poem we have--

"And trees ther were gret foisoun, That beren notes in her sesoun.

Such as men Notemygges calle That swote of savour ben withalle."

_Romaunt of the Rose._

The Nutmeg tree (_Myrista officinalis_) "is a native of the Molucca or Spice Islands, princ.i.p.ally confined to that group denominated the Islands of Banda, lying in lat. 4 30' south; and there it bears both blossom and fruit at all seasons of the year" ("Bot. Mag.," 2756, with a full history of the spice, and plates of the tree and fruit).

OAK.

(1) _Prospero._

If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an Oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails,

_Tempest_, act i, sc. 2 (294).

(2) _Prospero._

To the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout Oak With his own bolt.

_Ibid._, act v, sc. 1 (44).

(3) _Quince._

At the Duke's Oak we meet.

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act i, sc. 2 (113).

(4) _Bened.i.c.k._

An Oak with but one green leaf on it would have answered her.

_Much Ado About Nothing_, act ii, sc. 1 (247).

(5) _Isabella._

Thou split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled Oak.