The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
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).
Dr. Prior has decided that "'Filbert' is a barbarous compound of
_phillon_ or _feuille_, a leaf, and _beard_, to denote its
distinguishing peculiarity, the leafy involucre projecting beyond the
nut." But in the times before Shakespeare the name was more poetically
said to be derived from the nymph Phyllis. Nux Phyllidos is its name in
the old vocabularies, and Gower ("Confessio Amantis") tells us why--
"Phyllis in the same throwe
Was shape into a Nutte-tree,
That alle men it might see;
And after Phyllis philliberde,
This tre was cleped in the yerde"
(Lib. quart.),
and so Spenser spoke of it as "'Phillis' philbert" (Elegy 17).[115:1]
The Nut, the Filbert, and the Cobnut, are all botanically the same, and
the two last were cultivated in England long before Shakespeare's time,
not only for the fruit, but also, and more especially, for the oil.
There is a peculiarity in the growth of the Nut that is worth the notice
of the botanical student. The male blossoms, or catkins (anciently
called "agglettes or blowinges"), are mostly produced at the ends of the
year's shoots, while the pretty little crimson female blossoms are
produced close to the branch; they are completely sessile or unstalked.
Now in most fruit trees, when a flower is fertilized, the fruit is
produced exactly in the same place, with respect to the main tree, that
the flower occupied; a Peach or Apricot, for instance, rests upon the
branch which bore the flower. But in the Nut a different arrangement
prevails. As soon as the flower is fertilized it starts away from the
parent branch; a fresh branch is produced, bearing leaves and the Nut or
Nuts at the end, so that the Nut is produced several inches away from
the spot on which the flower originally was. I know of no other tree
that produces its fruit in this way, nor do I know what special benefit
to the plant arises from this arrangement.
Much folk-lore has gathered round the Hazel tree and the Nuts. The
cracking of Nuts, with much fortune-telling connected therewith, was
the favourite amusement on All Hallow's Eve (Oct. 31), so that the
Eve was called Nutcrack Night. I believe the custom still exists; it
certainly has not been very long abolished, for the Vicar of Wakefield
and his neighbours "religiously cracked Nuts on All Hallow's Eve."
And in many places "an ancient custom prevailed of going a Nutting
on Holy Rood Day (Sept. 14), which it was esteemed quite unlucky to
omit."--FORSTER.[116:1]
A greater mystery connected with the Hazel is the divining rod, for the
discovery of water and metals. This has always by preference been a
forked Hazel-rod, though sometimes other rods are substituted. The
belief in its power dates from a very early period, and is by no means
extinct. The divining-rod is said to be still used in Cornwall, and
firmly believed in; nor has this belief been confined to the uneducated.
Even Linnæus confessed himself to be half a convert to it, and learned
treatises have been written accepting the facts, and accounting for them
by electricity or some other subtle natural agency. Most of us, however,
will rather agree with Evelyn's cautious verdict, that the virtues
attributed to the forked stick "made out so solemnly by the attestation
of magistrates, and divers other learned and credible persons, who have
critically examined matters of fact, is certainly next to a miracle, and
requires a strong faith."
FOOTNOTES:
[115:1] "Hic fullus--a fylberd-tre."--_Nominale_, 15th cent.
"Fylberde, notte--Fillum."
"Filberde, tre--Phillis."--_Promptorium Parvulorum._
"The Filbyrdes hangyng to the ground."--_Squyr of Lowe Degre_ (37).
[116:1] See a long account of the connection of nuts with All Hallow's
Eve in Hanson, "Med. ævi Calend." i. 363.
HEATH.
_Gonzalo._
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of
barren ground, long Heath, brown Furze, anything.
_Tempest_, act i, sc. 1 (70).
There are other passages in which the word Heath occurs in Shakespeare,
but in none else is the flower referred to; the other references are to
an open heath or common. And in this place no special Heath can be
selected, unless by "long Heath" we suppose him to have meant the Ling
(_Calluna vulgaris_). And this is most probable, for so Lyte calls it.
"There is in this countrie two kindes of Heath, one which beareth the
flowres alongst the stemmes, and is called Long Heath." But it is
supposed by some that the correct reading is "Ling, Heath," &c., and in
that case Heath will be a generic word, meaning any of the British
species (_see_ LING). Of British species there are five, and wherever
they exist they are dearly prized as forming a rich element of beauty in
our landscapes. They are found all over the British Islands, and they
seem to be quite indifferent as to the place of their growth. They are
equally beautiful in the extreme Highlands of Scotland, or on the
Quantock and Exmoor Hills of the South--everywhere they clothe the
hill-sides with a rich garment of purple that is wonderfully beautiful,
whether seen under the full influence of the brightest sunshine, or
under the dark shadows of the blackest thundercloud. And the botanical
geography of the Heath tribe is very remarkable; it is found over the
whole of Europe, in Northern Asia, and in Northern Africa. Then the
tribe takes a curious leap, being found in immense abundance, both of
species and individuals, in Southern Africa, while it is entirely absent
from North and South America. Not a single species has been found in the
New World. A few plants of Calluna vulgaris have been found in
Newfoundland and Massachusetts, but that is not a true Heath.
As a garden plant the Heath has been strangely neglected. Many of the
species are completely hardy, and will make pretty evergreen bushes of
from 2ft. to 4ft. high, but they are better if kept close-grown by
constant clipping. The species best suited for this treatment are E.
Mediterranea, E. arborea, and E. codonoides. Of the more humble-growing
species, E. vagans (the Cornish Heath) will grow easily in most gardens,
though in its native habitat it is confined to the serpentine formation;
nor must we omit E. herbacea, which also will grow anywhere, and, if
clipped yearly after flowering, will make a most beautiful border to any
flower-bed; or it may be used more extensively, as it is at Doddington
Park, in Gloucestershire (Sir Gerald Codrington's), where there is a
large space in front of the house, several yards square, entirely filled
with E. herbacea. When this is in flower (and it is so for nearly two
months, or sometimes more) the effect, as seen from above, is of the
richest Turkey carpet, but of such a colour and harmony as no Turkey
carpet ever attained.
Several of the South-European Heaths were cultivated in England in
Shakespeare's time.
HEBENON OR HEBONA.[118:1]
_Ghost._
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed Hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ear did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood; so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
_Hamlet_, act i, sc. 5 (61).
Before and in the time of Shakespeare other writers had spoken of the
narcotic and poisonous effects of Heben, Hebenon, or Hebona. Gower
says--
"Ful of delite,
Slepe hath his hous, and of his couche,
Within his chambre if I shall touche,
Of Hebenus that slepy tre
The bordes all aboute be."
_Conf. Aman._, lib. quart. (ii. 103, Paulli).
Spenser says--
"Faire Venus sonne, . . .
Lay now thy deadly Heben bow apart."
_F. Q._, introd., st. 3.
"There (in Mammon's garden) Cypresse grew in greatest store,
And trees of bitter gall and Heben sad."
_F. Q._, book ii, c. viij, st. 17.
And he speaks of a "speare of Heben wood," and "a Heben launce."
Marlowe, a contemporary and friend of Shakespeare, makes Barabas curse
his daughter with--
"In few the blood of Hydra, Lerna's bane,
The juice of Hebon, and Cocytus breath,
And all the poison of the Stygian pool."
_Jew of Malta_, act iii, st. 4.
It may be taken for granted that all these authors allude to the same
tree, but what tree is meant has sorely puzzled the commentators. Some
naturally suggested the Ebony, and this view is supported by the
respectable names of Archdeacon Nares, Douce, Schmidt, and Dyce. A
larger number pronounced with little hesitation in favour of Henbane
(_Hyoscyamus niger_), the poisonous qualities of which were familiar to
the contemporaries of Shakespeare, and were supposed by most of the
botanical writers of his day (and on the authority of Pliny) to be
communicated by being poured into the ears. But the Henbane is not a
tree, as Gower's "Hebenus" and Spenser's "Heben" certainly were; and
though it will satisfy some of the requirements of the plant named by
Shakespeare, it will not satisfy all.[119:1]
It might have been supposed that the difficulty would at once have been
cleared up by reference to the accounts of the death of Hamlet's father,
as given by Saxo Grammaticus, and the old "Hystorie of Hamblet," but
neither of these writers attribute his death to poison.[119:2]
The question has lately been very much narrowed and satisfactorily
settled (for the present, certainly, and probably altogether) by Dr.
Nicholson and the Rev. W. A. Harrison. These gentlemen have decided that
the true reading is Hebona, and that Hebona is the Yew. Their views are
stated at full length in two exhaustive papers contributed to the New
Shakespeare Society, and published in their "Transactions."[119:3] The
full argument is too long for insertion here, and my readers will thank
me for referring them to the papers in the "Transactions." The main
arguments are based on three facts: 1. That in nearly all the northern
nations (including, of course, Denmark) the name of the Yew is more or
less like Heben. 2. That all the effects attributed by Shakespeare to
the action of Hebona are described as arising from Yew-poisoning by
different medical writers, some of them contemporary with him, and some
writing with later experiences. 3. That the _post mortem_ appearances
after Yew-poisoning and after snake-poisoning are very similar, and it
was "given out, that sleeping in my orchard, a serpent stung me."
But it may well be asked, How could Shakespeare have known of all these
effects, which (as far as our present search has discovered) are not
named by any one writer of his time, and some of which have only been
made public from the results of Yew-poisoning since his day? I think the
question can be answered in a very simple way. The effects are described
with such marked minuteness that it seems to me not only very probable,
but almost certain, that Shakespeare must have been an eye-witness of a
case of Yew-poisoning, and that what he saw had been so photographed on