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The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare

Henry Nicholson Ellacombe

his mind that he took the first opportunity that presented itself to reproduce the picture. With his usual grand contempt for perfect accuracy he did not hesitate to sweep aside at once the strict historical records of the old king's death, and in its place to paint for us a cold-blooded murder carried out by means which he knew from his personal experience to be possible, and which he felt himself able to describe with a minuteness which his knowledge of his audiences assured him would not be out of place even in that great tragedy. The objection to the Yew theory of Hebona, that the Yew is named by Shakespeare under its more usual name, is no real objection. On the same ground Ebony and Henbane must be excluded; together with Gilliflowers, which he elsewhere speaks of as Carnations; and Woodbine, because he also speaks of Honeysuckle. FOOTNOTES: [118:1] Hebona is the reading of the First Quarto (1603) and of the Second Quarto (1604), and is decided by the critics to be the true reading. [119:1] Mr. Beisley suggests Enoron, _i.e._, Nightshade, which Mr. Dyce describes as "a villainous conjecture." In my first edition I expressed my belief that Hebenon was either Henbane or a general term for a deadly poisonous plant; but I had not then seen Dr. Nicholson's and Mr. Harrison's papers. [119:2] Saxo Grammaticus: "Ubi datus parricidio locus, cruenta manu mentis libidinem satiavit; trucidati quoque fratris uxore potitus, incestum parricidio adjecit."--_Historiæ Danorum_, lib. iii, fol. xxvii, Ed. 1514. "The Historye of Hamblet, Prince of Denmark:" Fergon "having secretly assembled certain men and perceiving himself strong enough to execute his enterprise, Horvendile, his brother, being at a banquet with his friends, sodainely set upon him, where he slewe him as treacherously, as cunningly he purged himselfe of so detestable a murder to his subjects."--COLLIER'S _Shakespeare's Library_. [119:3] "Hamlet's Cursed Hebenon," by Dr. R. B. Nicholson, M.D. (read Nov. 14, 1879). "Hamlet's Juice of Cursed Hebona," by Rev. W. A. Harrison, M.A. (read May 12, 1882). Both the papers are published in the "Transactions" of the Society. HEMLOCK. (1) _Burgundy._ Her fallow leas The Darnel, Hemlock, and rank Fumitory Doth root upon. _Henry V_, act v, sc. 2 (44). (2) _3rd Witch._ Root of Hemlock digg'd i' the dark. _Macbeth_, act iv, sc. 1 (25). (3) _Cordelia._ Crown'd with rank Fumiter and Furrow-weeds, With Burdocks, Hemlock, Nettles, Cuckoo-flowers. _King Lear_, act iv, sc. 4 (3). One of the most poisonous of a suspicious family (the Umbelliferæ), "the great Hemlocke doubtlesse is not possessed of any one good facultie, as appeareth by his lothsome smell and other apparent signes," and with this evil character the Hemlock was considered to be only fit for an ingredient of witches' broth-- "I ha' been plucking (plants among) Hemlock, Henbane, Adder's Tongue, Nightshade, Moonwort, Leppard's-bane." BEN JONSON, _Witches' Song in the Masque of the Queens_. Yet the Hemlock adds largely to the beauty of our hedgerows; its spotted tall stems and its finely cut leaves make it a handsome weed, and the dead stems and dried umbels are marked features in the winter appearance of the hedges. As a poison it has an evil notoriety, being supposed to be the poison by which Socrates was put to death, though this is not quite certain. It is not, however, altogether a useless plant--"It is a valuable medicinal plant, and in autumn the ripened stem is cut into pieces to make reeds for worsted thread."--JOHNSTON. HEMP. (1) _Pistol._ Let gallows gape for dog; let man go free, And let not Hemp his windpipe suffocate. _Henry V_, act iii, sc. 6 (45). (2) _Chorus._ And in them behold Upon the Hempen tackle ship-boys climbing. _Henry V_, act iii, chorus (7). (3) _Puck._ What Hempen homespuns have we swaggering here? _Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iii, sc. 1 (79). (4) _Cade._ Ye shall have a Hempen caudle then, and the pap of a hatchet. _2nd Henry VI_, act iv, sc. 7 (95). (5) _Hostess._ Thou Hemp-seed. _2nd Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 1 (64). In all these passages, except the last, the reference is to rope made from Hemp, and not to the Hemp plant, and it is very probable that Shakespeare never saw the plant. It was introduced into England long before his time, and largely cultivated, but only in few parts of England, and chiefly in the eastern counties. I do not find that it was cultivated in gardens in his time, but it is a plant well deserving a place in any garden, and is especially suitable from its height and regular growth, for the central plant of a flower-bed. It is supposed to be a native of India, and seems capable of cultivation in almost any climate.[122:1] The name has a curious history. "The Greek +kannabis+, and Latin _cannabis_, are both identical with the Sanscrit _kanam_, as well as with the German _hanf_, and the English _hemp_. More directly from _cannabis_ comes canvas, made up of hemp or flax, and canvass, to discuss: _i.e._, sift a question; metaphorically from the use of hempen sieves or sifters."--BIRDWOOD'S _Handbook to the Indian Court_, p. 23. FOOTNOTES: [122:1] In Shakespeare's time the vulgar name for Hemp was Neckweed, and there is a curious account of it under that name by William Bullein, in "The Booke of Compounds," f. 68. HERB OF GRACE, _see_ RUE. HOLLY. _Song._ Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green Holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then, heigh-ho, the Holly! This life is most jolly. _As You Like It_, act ii, sc. 7 (180). From this single notice of the Holly in Shakespeare, and from the slight account of it in Gerard, we might conclude that the plant was not the favourite in the sixteenth century that it is in the nineteenth; but this would be a mistake. The Holly entered largely into the old Christmas carols. "Christmastide Comes in like a bride, With Holly and Ivy clad"-- and it was from the earliest times used for the decoration of houses and churches at Christmas. It does not, however, derive its name from this circumstance, though it was anciently spelt "holy," or called the "holy tree," for the name comes from a very different source, and is identical with "holm," which, indeed, was its name in the time of Gerard and Parkinson, and is still its name in some parts of England, though it has almost lost its other old name of Hulver,[123:1] except in the eastern counties, where the word is still in use. But as an ornamental tree it does not seem to have been much valued, though in the next century Evelyn is loud in the praises of this "incomparable tree," and admired it both for its beauty and its use. It is certainly the handsomest of our native evergreens, and is said to be finer in England than in any other country; and as seen growing in its wild habitats in our forests, as it may be seen in the New Forest and the Forest of Dean, it stands without a rival, equally beautiful in summer and in winter; in summer its bright glossy leaves shining out distinctly in the midst of any surrounding greenery, while as "the Holly that outdares cold winter's ire" (Browne), it is the very emblem of bright cheerfulness, with its foliage uninjured in the most severe weather, and its rich coral berries, sometimes borne in the greatest profusion, delighting us with their brilliancy and beauty. And as a garden shrub, the Holly still holds its own, after all the fine exotic shrubs that have been introduced into our gardens during the present century. It can be grown as a single shrub, or it may be clipped, and will then form the best and the most impregnable hedge that can be grown. No other plant will compare with it as a hedge plant, if it be only properly attended to, and we can understand Evelyn's pride in his "glorious and refreshing object," a Holly hedge 160ft. in length, 7ft. in height, and 5ft. in diameter, which he could show in his "poor gardens at any time of the year, glittering with its armed and vernished leaves," and "blushing with their natural corale." Nor need we be confined to plain green in such a hedge. The Holly runs into a great many varieties, with the leaves of all shapes and sizes, and blotched and variegated in different fashions and colours. All of these seem to be comparatively modern. In the time of Gerard and Parkinson there seems to have been only the one typical species, and perhaps the Hedgehog Holly. I may finish the notice of the Holly by quoting two most remarkable uses of the tree mentioned by Parkinson: "With the flowers of Holly, saith Pliny from Pythagoras, water is made ice; and againe, a staffe of the tree throwne at any beast, although it fall short by his defect that threw it, will flye to him, as he lyeth still, by the speciall property of the tree." He may well add--"This I here relate that you may understand the fond and vain conceit of those times, which I would to God we were not in these dayes tainted withal." FOOTNOTES: [123:1] "_Hulwur_-tre (huluyr), hulmus, hulcus aut huscus."--_Promptorium Parvulorum._ HOLY THISTLE. _Margaret._ Get you some of this distilled Carduus Benedictus, and lay it to your heart; it is the only thing for a qualm. _Hero._ There thou prickest her with a Thistle. _Beatrice._ Benedictus! Why Benedictus? You have some moral in this Benedictus. _Margaret._ Moral! No, by my troth, I have no moral meaning: I meant plain Holy Thistle. _Much Ado About Nothing_, act iii, sc. 4 (73). The _Carduus benedictus_, or Blessed Thistle, is a handsome annual from the South of Europe, and obtained its name from its high reputation as a heal-all, being supposed even to cure the plague, which was the highest praise that could be given to a medicine in those days. It is mentioned in all the treatises on the Plague, and especially by Thomas Brasbridge, who, in 1578, published his "Poore Mans Jewell, that is to say, a Treatise of the Pestilence: vnto which is annexed a declaration of the vertues of the Hearbes Carduus Benedictus and Angelica." This little book Shakespeare may have seen; it speaks of the virtues of the "distilled" leaves: it says, "it helpeth the hart," "expelleth all poyson taken in at the mouth and other corruption that doth hurt and annoye the hart," and that "the juyce of it is outwardly applied to the bodie" ("lay it to your heart"), and concludes, "therefore I counsell all them that have Gardens to nourish it, that they may have it always to their own use, and the use of their neighbours that lacke it." The plant has long lost this high character. HONEYSTALKS, _see_ CLOVER. HONEYSUCKLE. (1) _Hero._ And bid her steal into the pleached bower Where Honeysuckles, ripen'd by the sun, Forbid the sun to enter. _Much Ado About Nothing_, act iii, sc. 1 (7). (2) _Ursula._ So angle we for Beatrice; who even now Is couched in the Woodbine coverture. _Ibid._ (29). (3) _Titania._ Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.