The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare Part 65

_As You Like It_, act iii, sc. 2 (248).

(23) _Prospero._

Thy food shall be The fresh-brook muscles, wither'd roots, and husks Wherein the Acorn cradled.

_Tempest_, act i, sc. 2 (462).

(24) _Puck._

All their elves for fear Creep into Acorn-cups, and hide them there.

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act ii, sc. 1 (30).

(25) _Lysander._

Get you gone, you dwarf--you beed--you Acorn!

_Ibid._, act iii, sc. 2 (328).

(26) _Posthumus._

Like a full-Acorned boar--a German one.

_Cymbeline_, act ii, sc. 5 (16).

(27) _Messenger._

About his head he weares the winner's Oke.

_Two n.o.ble Kinsmen_, act iv, sc. 2 (154).

(28)

Time's glory is . . . .

To dry the old Oak's sap.

_Lucrece_ (950).

Here are several very pleasant pictures, and there is so much of historical and legendary lore gathered round the Oaks of England that it is very tempting to dwell upon them. There are the historical Oaks connected with the names of William Rufus, Queen Elizabeth, and Charles II.; there are the wonderful Oaks of Wistman's Wood (certainly the most weird and most curious wood in England, if not in Europe); there are the many pa.s.sages in which our old English writers have loved to descant on the Oaks of England as the very emblems of unbroken strength and unflinching constancy; there is all the national interest which has linked the glories of the British navy with the steady and enduring growth of her Oaks; there is the wonderful picturesqueness of the great Oak plantations of the New Forest, the Forest of Dean, and other royal forests; and the equally, if not greater, picturesqueness of the English Oak as the chief ornament of our great English parks; there is the scientific interest which suggested the growth of the Oak for the plan of our lighthouses, and many other interesting points. It is very tempting to stop on each and all of these, but the s.p.a.ce is too limited, and they can all be found ably treated of and at full length in any of the books that have been written on the English forest trees.

OATS.

(1) _Iris._

Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas Of Wheat, Rye, Barley, Vetches, Oats, and Pease.

_Tempest_, act iv, sc. 1 (60).

(2) _Spring Song._

When shepherds pipe on Oaten straws.

_Love's Labour's Lost_, act v, sc. 2 (913).

(3) _Bottom._

Truly a peck of provender; I could munch your good dry Oats.

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iv, sc. 1 (35).

(4) _Grumio._

Ay, sir, they be ready; the Oats have eaten the horses.

_Taming of the Shrew_, act iii, sc. 2 (207).

(5) _First Carrier._

Poor fellow, never joyed since the price of Oats rose--it was the death of him.

_1st Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 1 (13).

(6) _Captain._

I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried Oats, If it be man's work, I'll do it.

_King Lear_, act v, sc. 3 (38).

Shakespeare's Oats need no comment, except to note that the older English name for Oats was Haver (_see_ "Promptorium Parvulorum," p. 372; and "Catholicon Anglic.u.m," p. 178, with the notes). The word was in use in Shakespeare's time, and still survives in the northern parts of England.