The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm.
_2nd Henry VI_, act v, sc. 1 (205).
(4) _Warwick._
Thus yields the Cedar to the axe's edge,
Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle,
Under whose shade the ramping lion slept,
Whose top-branch o'erpeered Jove's spreading tree,
And kept low shrubs from winter's powerful wind.
_3rd Henry VI_, act v, sc. 2 (11).
(5) _Cranmer._
He shall flourish,
And, like a mountain Cedar, reach his branches
To all the plains about him.
_Henry VIII_, act v, sc. 5 (215).
(6) _Posthumus._
When from a stately Cedar shall be lopped branches, which,
being dead many years, shall after revive.
_Cymbeline_, act v, sc. 4 (140); and act v, sc. 5 (457).
(7) _Soothsayer._
The lofty Cedar, royal Cymbeline,
Personates thee. Thy lopp'd branches
. . . . . are now revived,
To the majestic Cedar join'd.
_Ibid._, act v, sc. 5 (453).
(8) _Gloucester._
But I was born so high,
Our aery buildeth in the Cedar's top,
And dallies with the wind and scorns the sun.
_Richard III_, act i, sc. 3 (263).
(9) _Coriolanus._
Let the mutinous winds
Strike the proud Cedars 'gainst the fiery sun.
_Coriolanus_, act v, sc. 3 (59).
(10) _Titus._
Marcus, we are but shrubs, no Cedars we.
_Titus Andronicus_, act iv, sc. 3 (45).
(11) _Daughter._
I have sent him where a Cedar,
Higher than all the rest, spreads like a Plane
Fast by a brook.
_Two Noble Kinsmen_, act ii, sc. 6 (4).
(12)
The sun ariseth in his majesty;
Who doth the world so gloriously behold
That Cedar-tops and hills seem burnished gold.
_Venus and Adonis_ (856).
(13)
The Cedar stoops not to the base shrub's foot,
But low shrubs wither at the Cedar's root.
_Lucrece_ (664).
The Cedar is the classical type of majesty and grandeur, and superiority
to everything that is petty and mean. So Shakespeare uses it, and only
in this way; for it is very certain he never saw a living specimen of
the Cedar of Lebanon. But many travellers in the East had seen it and
minutely described it, and from their descriptions he derived his
knowledge of the tree; but not only, and probably not chiefly from
travellers, for he was well acquainted with his Bible, and there he
would meet with many a passage that dwelt on the glories of the Cedar,
and told how it was the king of trees, so that "the Fir trees were not
like his boughs, and the Chestnut trees were not like his branches, nor
any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty, fair by
the multitude of his branches, so that all the trees of Eden that were
in the garden of God envied him" (Ezekiel xxxi. 8, 9). It was such
descriptions as these that supplied Shakespeare with his imagery, and
which made our ancestors try to introduce the tree into England. But
there seems to have been much difficulty in establishing it. Evelyn
tried to introduce it, but did not succeed at first, and the tree is not
mentioned in his "Sylva" of 1664. It was, however, certainly introduced
in 1676, when it appears, from the gardeners' accounts, to have been
planted at Bretby Park, Derbyshire ("Gardener's Chronicle," January,
1877). I believe this is the oldest certain record of the planting of
the Cedar in England, the next oldest being the trees in Chelsea Botanic
Gardens, which were certainly planted in 1683. Since that time the tree
has proved so suitable to the English soil that it is grown everywhere,
and everywhere asserts itself as the king of evergreen trees, whether
grown as a single tree on a lawn, or mixed in large numbers with other
trees, as at Highclere Park, in Hampshire (Lord Carnarvon's). Among
English Cedar trees there are probably none that surpass the fine
specimens at Warwick Castle, which owe, however, much of their beauty to
their position on the narrow strip of land between the Castle and the
river. I mention these to call attention to the pleasant coincidence
(for it is nothing more) that the most striking descriptions of the
Cedar are given by Shakespeare to the then owner of the princely Castle
of Warwick (Nos. 3 and 4).
The mediæval belief about the Cedar was that its wood was imperishable.
"Hæc Cedrus, A{e} sydyretre, et est talis nature quod nunquam putrescet
in aqua nec in terra" (English Vocabulary--15th cent.); but as a timber
tree the English-grown Cedar has not answered to its old reputation, so
that Dr. Lindley called it "the worthless though magnificent Cedar of
Lebanon."
CHERRY.
(1) _Helena._
So we grew together,
Like to a double Cherry, seeming parted,
But yet a union in partition;
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem.
_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iii, sc. 2 (208).
(2) _Demetrius._
O, how ripe in show
Thy lips, those kissing Cherries, tempting grow!
_Ibid._, act iii, sc. 2 (139).
(3) _Constance._
And it' grandam will
Give it a Plum, a Cherry, and a Fig.
_King John_, act ii, sc. 1 (161).
(4) _Lady._
'Tis as like you
As Cherry is to Cherry.
_Henry VIII_, act v, sc. 1 (170).
(5) _Gower._
She with her neeld composes
Nature's own shape of bud, bird, branch, or berry;
That even her art sisters the natural Roses,
Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied Cherry.
_Pericles_, act v, chorus (5).
(6) _Dromio of Syracuse._
Some devils ask but the paring 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).
(7) _Queen._
Oh, when
The twyning Cherries shall their sweetness fall
Upon thy tasteful lips.
_Two Noble Kinsmen_, act i, sc. 1 (198).
(8)
When he was by, the birds such pleasure took,
That some would sing, some other in their bills
Would bring him Mulberries and ripe-red Cherries.
He fed them with his sight, they him with berries.
_Venus and Adonis_ (1101).
Besides these, there is mention of "cherry lips"[54:1] and
"cherry-nose,"[54:2] and the game of "cherry-pit."[54:3] We have the
authority of Pliny that the Cherry (_Prunus Cerasus_) was introduced
into Italy from Pontus, and by the Romans was introduced into Britain.
It is not, then, a true native, but it has now become completely
naturalized in our woods and hedgerows, while the cultivated trees are
everywhere favourites for the beauty of their flowers, and their rich
and handsome fruit. In Shakespeare's time there were almost as many, and
probably as good varieties, as there are now.
FOOTNOTES:
[54:1] _Midsummer Night's Dream_, act v, sc. 1; _Richard III_, act i,
sc. 1; _Two Noble Kinsmen_, act iv, sc. 1.
[54:2] _Midsummer Night's Dream_, act v, sc. 1.
[54:3] _Twelfth Night_, act iii, sc. 4.
CHESTNUTS.
(1) _Witch._
A sailor's wife had Chestnuts in her lap,
And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd.
_Macbeth_, act i, sc. 3 (4).
(2) _Petruchio._
And do you tell me of a woman's tongue
That gives not half so great a blow to hear
As will a Chestnut in farmer's fire?
_Taming of the Shrew_, act i, sc. 2 (208).
(3) _Rosalind._
I' faith, his hair is of a good colour.
_Celia._
An excellent colour; your Chestnut was ever the only colour.
_As You Like It_, act iii, sc. 4 (11).
This is the Spanish or Sweet Chestnut, a fruit which seems to have been
held in high esteem in Shakespeare's time, for Lyte, in 1578, says of
it, "Amongst all kindes of wilde fruites the Chestnut is best and
meetest for to be eaten." The tree cannot be regarded as a true native,
but it has been so long introduced, probably by the Romans, that grand
specimens are to be found in all parts of England; the oldest known
specimen being at Tortworth, in Gloucestershire, which was spoken of as
an old tree in the time of King Stephen; while the tree that is said to
be the oldest and the largest in Europe is the Spanish Chestnut tree on
Mount Etna, the famous Castagni du Centu Cavalli, which measures near
the root 160 feet in circumference. It is one of our handsomest trees,
and very useful for timber, and at one time it was supposed that many of
our oldest buildings were roofed with Chestnut. This was the current
report of the grand roof at Westminster Hall, but it is now discovered
to be of Oak, and it is very doubtful whether the Chestnut timber is as
lasting as it has long been supposed to be.
The Horse Chestnut was probably unknown to Shakespeare. It is an Eastern
tree, and in no way related to the true Chestnut, and though the name
has probably no connection with horses or their food, yet it is curious
that the petiole has (especially when dry) a marked resemblance to a
horse's leg and foot, and that both on the parent stem and the petiole
may be found a very correct representation of a horseshoe with its
nails.[55:1]
FOOTNOTES:
[55:1] For an excellent description of the great differences between the
Spanish and Horse Chestnut, see "Gardener's Chronicle," Oct. 29, 1881.
CLOVER.
(1) _Burgundy._
The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
The freckled Cowslip, Burnet, and green Clover.
_Henry V_, act v, sc. 2 (48).
(2) _Tamora._
I will enchant the old Andronicus
With words more sweet, and yet more dangerous,
Than baits to fish, or Honey-stalks to sheep,
When, as the one is wounded with the bait,
The other rotted with delicious food.
_Titus Andronicus_, act iv, sc. 4 (89).
"Honey-stalks" are supposed to be the flower of the Clover. This seems
very probable, but I believe the name is no longer applied. Of the
Clover there are two points of interest that are worth notice. The
Clover is one of the plants that claim to be the Shamrock of St.
Patrick. This is not a settled point, and at the present day the
Woodsorrel is supposed to have the better claim to the honour. But it is
certain that the Clover is the "clubs" of the pack of cards. "Clover" is
a corruption of "Clava," a club. In England we paint the Clover on our
cards and call it "clubs," while in France they have the same figure,
but call it "trefle."
CLOVES.
_Biron._
A Lemon.
_Longaville._
Stuck with Cloves.
_Love's Labour's Lost_, act v, sc. 2 (633).[56:1]
As a mention of a vegetable product, I could not omit this passage, but
the reference is only to the imported spice and not to the tree from
which then, as now, the Clove was gathered. The Clove of commerce is the
unexpanded flower of the Caryophyllus aromaticus, and the history of its
discovery and cultivation by the Dutch in Amboyna, with the vain