The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare Part 92

(5) _Dromio of Syracuse._

Some devils ask but the parings of one's nail, A Rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin, A Nut, a Cherry-stone.

_Comedy of Errors_, act iv, sc. 3 (72).

(6) _b.a.s.t.a.r.d._

A Rush will be a beam To hang thee on.

_King John_, act iv, sc. 3 (129).

(7) _1st Groom._

More Rushes, more Rushes.

_2nd Henry IV_, act v, sc. 5 (1).

(8) _Eros._

He's walking in the garden--thus; and spurns The Rush that lies before him.

_Antony and Cleopatra_, act iii, sc. 5 (17).

(9) _Oth.e.l.lo._

Man but a Rush against Oth.e.l.lo's breast, And he retires.

_Oth.e.l.lo_, act v, sc. 2 (270).

(10) _Grumio._

Is supper ready, the house trimmed, Rushes strewed, cobwebs swept?

_Taming of the Shrew_, act iv, sc. 1 (47).

(11) _Katherine._

Be it moon or sun, or what you please, And if you please to call it a Rush-candle, Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.

_Ibid._, act iv, sc. 5 (13).

(12) _Glendower._

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

_1st Henry IV_, act iii, sc. 1 (214).

(13) _Marcius._

He that depends Upon your favours swims with fins of lead And hews down Oaks with Rushes.

_Coriola.n.u.s_, act i, sc. 1 (183).

(14) _Iachimo._

Our Tarquin thus Did softly press the Rushes.

_Cymbeline_, act ii, sc. 2 (12).

(15) _Senator._ Our gates Which yet seem shut, we have but pinn'd with Rushes!

They'll open of themselves.

_Coriola.n.u.s_, act i, sc. 4 (16).

(16)

And being lighted, by the light he spies Lucretia's glove, wherein her needle sticks; He takes it from the Rushes where it lies.

_Lucrece_ (316).

(17) _See_ REEDS, No. 7.

(18) _Wooer._

Rings she made Of Rushes that grew by, and to 'em spoke The prettiest posies.

_Two n.o.ble Kinsmen_, act iv, sc. 1 (109).

_See also_ FLAG, REED, _and_ BULRUSH.

Like the Reed, the Rush often stands for any water-loving, gra.s.sy plant, and, like the Reed, it was the emblem of yielding weakness and of uselessness.[264:1] The three princ.i.p.al Rushes referred to by Shakespeare are the Common Rush (_Juncus communis_), the Bulrush (_Scirpus lacustris_), and the Sweet Rush (_Acorus calamus_).

The Common Rush, though the mark of badly cultivated ground, and the emblem of uselessness, was not without its uses, some of which are referred to in Nos. 1, 3, and 11. In Nos. 3 and 18 reference is made to the Rush-ring, a ring, no doubt, originally meant and used for the purposes of honest betrothal, but afterwards so vilely used for the purposes of mock marriages, that even as early as 1217 Richard Bishop of Salisbury had to issue his edict against the use of "annulum de junco."

The Rush betrothal ring is mentioned by Spenser--