The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
confined to the neighbourhood of Mitcham and Carshalton in Surrey; and
there at the time of the picking of the flowers, and still more in the
later autumn when the old woody plants are burned, the air for a long
distance is strongly and most pleasantly impregnated with the delicate
perfume.
FOOTNOTES:
[137:1] The very name suggests this association. Lavender is the English
form of the Latin name, Lavendula; "lavendula autem dicta quoniam magnum
vectigal Genevensibus mercatoribus præbet quotannis in Africam eam
ferentibus, ubi lavandis fovendisque corporibus Lybes ea utuntur, nec
nisi decocto ejus abluti, mane domo egrediuntur."--_Stephani Libellus de
re Hortensi_, 1536, p. 54. The old form of our "laundress" was "a
Lavendre."
LEATHERCOAT, _see_ APPLE.
LEEK.
(1) _Thisbe._
His eyes were green as Leeks.
_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act v, sc. 1 (342).
(2) _Pistol._
Tell him I'll knock his Leek about his pate upon Saint Davy's
Day.
_Henry V_, act iv, sc. 1 (54).
(3) _Fluellen._
If your majesties is remembered of it, the Welshmen did good
service in a garden where Leeks did grow, wearing Leeks in
their Monmouth caps; which your majesty knows to this hour
is an honourable badge of the service; and I do believe your
majesty takes no scorn to wear the Leek upon Saint Tavy's
Day.
_Ibid._, act iv, sc. 7 (101).
(4)
In act v, sc. 1, is the encounter between Fluellen and Pistol,
when he makes the bully eat the Leek; this causes such
frequent mention of the Leek that it would be necessary to
extract the whole scene, which, therefore, I will simply
refer to in this way.
We can scarcely understand the very high value that was placed on Leeks
in olden times. By the Egyptians the plant was almost considered sacred,
"Porrum et cæpe nefas violare et frangere morsu" (Juvenal); we know how
Leeks were relished in Egypt by the Israelites; and among the Greeks
they "appear to have constituted so important a part in ancient gardens,
that the term +prasia+, or a bed, derived its name from +prason+, the
Greek word for Onion," or Leek[138:1] (Daubeny); while among the
Anglo-Saxons it was very much the same. The name is pure Anglo-Saxon,
and originally meant any vegetable; then it was restricted to any
bulbous vegetable, before it was finally further restricted to our Leek;
and "its importance was considered so much above that of any other
vegetable, that _leac-tun_, the Leek-garden, became the common name of
the kitchen garden, and _leac-ward_, the Leek-keeper, was used to
designate the gardener" (Wright). The plant in those days gave its name
to the Broad Leek which is our present Leek, the Yne Leek or Onion, the
Garleek (Garlick), and others of the same tribe, while it was applied to
other plants of very different families, as the Hollow Leek (_Corydalis
cava_), and the House Leek (_Sempervivum tectorum_).
It seems to have been considered the hardiest of all flowers. In the
account of the Great Frost of 1608, "this one infallible token" is given
in proof of its severity. "The Leek whose courage hath ever been so
undaunted that he hath borne up his lusty head in all storms, and could
never be compelled to shrink for hail, snow, frost, or showers, is now
by the violence and cruelty of this weather beaten unto the earth, being
rotted, dead, disgraced, and trod upon."
Its popularity still continues among the Welsh, by whom it is still, I
believe, very largely cultivated; but it does not seem to have been much
valued in England in Shakespeare's time, for Gerard has but little to
say of its virtues, but much of its "hurts." "It hateth the body,
ingendreth naughty blood, causeth troublesome and terrible dreames,
offendeth the eyes, dulleth the sight, &c." Nor does Parkinson give a
much more favourable account. "Our dainty eye now refuseth them wholly,
in all sorts except the poorest; they are used with us sometimes in Lent
to make pottage, and is a great and generall feeding in Wales with the
vulgar gentlemen." It was even used as the proverbial expression of
worthlessness, as in the "Roumaunt of the Rose," where the author says,
speaking of "Phiciciens and Advocates"--
"For by her wille, without leese,
Everi man shulde be seke,
And though they die, they settle not a Leke."
And by Chaucer--
"And other suche, deare ynough a Leeke."
_Prologue of the Chanoune's Tale._
"The beste song that ever was made
Ys not worth a Leky's blade,
But men will tend ther tille."
_The Child of Bristowe._
FOOTNOTES:
[138:1] For a testimony of the high value placed on the Leek by the
Greeks see a poem on +Môly+, in "Anonymi Carmen de Herbis" in the "Poetæ
Bucolici et didactici."
LEMON.
_Biron._
A Lemon.
_Longaville._
Stuck with Cloves.
_Love's Labour's Lost_, act v, sc. 2 (654).
_See_ ORANGE AND CLOVES.
LETTUCE.
_Iago._
If we will plant Nettles or sow Lettuce. (_See_ HYSSOP.)
_Othello_, act i, sc. 3 (324).
This excellent vegetable with its Latin name probably came to us from
the Romans.
"Letuce of lac derivyed is perchaunce;
For milk it hath or yeveth abundaunce."
_Palladius on Husbandrie_, ii, 216 (15th cent.)
E. E. Text Soc.
It was cultivated by the Anglo-Saxons, who showed their knowledge of its
narcotic qualities by giving it the name of Sleepwort; it is mentioned
by Spenser as "cold Lettuce" ("Muiopotmos"). And in Shakespeare's time
the sorts cultivated were very similar to, and probably as good as,
ours.
LILY.
(1) _Iris._
Thy banks with Pioned and Lilied[140:1] brims.
_Tempest_, act iv, sc. 1 (64).
(2) _Launce._
Look you, she is as white as a Lily and as small as a wand.
_Two Gentlemen of Verona_, act ii, sc. 3 (22).
(3) _Julia._
The air hath starved the Roses in her cheeks,
And pinch'd the Lily-tincture of her face.
_Ibid._, act iv, sc. 4 (160).
(4) _Flute._
Most radiant Pyramus, most Lily-white of hue.
_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iii, sc. 1 (94).
(5) _Thisbe._
These Lily lips.
_Ibid._, act v, sc. 1 (337).
(6) _Perdita._
Lilies of all kinds,
The Flower-de-luce being one!
_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 4 (126).
(7) _Princess._
Now by my maiden honour, yet as pure
As the unsullied Lily.
_Love's Labour's Lost_, act v, sc. 2 (351).
(8) _Queen Katharine._
Like the Lily
That once was mistress of the field and flourish'd,
I'll hang my head, and perish.
_Henry VIII_, act iii, sc. 1 (151).
(9) _Cranmer._
Yet a virgin,
A most unspotted Lily shall she pass
To the ground.
_Ibid._, act v, sc. 5 (61).
(10) _Troilus._
Give me swift transportance to those fields,
Where I may wallow in the Lily beds
Proposed for the deserver.
_Troilus and Cressida_, act iii, sc. 2 (12).
(11) _Marcus._
O, had the monster seen those Lily hands
Tremble, like Aspen leaves, upon a lute.
_Titus Andronicus_, act ii, sc. 4 (44).
(12) _Titus._
Fresh tears
Stood on her cheeks as doth the honey-dew
Upon a gather'd Lily almost wither'd.
_Ibid._, act iii, sc. 1 (111).
(13) _Iachimo._
How bravely thou becomest thy bed, fresh Lily!
_Cymbeline_, act ii, sc. 2 (15).
(14) _Guiderius._
O sweetest, fairest Lily!
My brother wears thee not the one half so well,
As when thou grew'st thyself.
_Ibid._, act iv, sc. 2 (201).
(15) _Constance._
Of Nature's gifts thou may'st with Lilies boast,
And with the half-blown Rose.
_King John_, act iii, sc. 1 (53).
(16) _Salisbury._
To gild refined gold, to paint the Lily,
To throw a perfume on the Violet,
* * * * *
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.
_Ibid._, act iv, sc. 2 (11).
(17) _Kent._
A Lily-livered, action-taking knave.
_King Lear_, act ii, sc. 2 (18).
(18) _Macbeth_
Thou Lily-liver'd boy.
_Macbeth_, act v, sc. 3 (15).
(19)
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
_Sonnet_ xciv.
(20)
Nor did I wonder at the Lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion of the Rose.
_Ibid._ xcviii.
(21)
The Lily I condemned for thy hand.
_Ibid._ xcix.
(22)
Their silent war of Lilies and of Roses
Which Tarquin view'd in her fair face's field.
_Lucrece_ (71).
(23)
Her Lily hand her rosy cheek lies under,
Cozening the pillow of a lawful kiss.
_Ibid._ (386).
(24)
The colour in thy face
That even for anger makes the Lily pale,
And the red Rose blush at her own disgrace.
_Ibid._ (477).
(25)
A Lily pale with damask die to grace her.
_Passionate Pilgrim_ (89).
(26)
Full gently now she takes him by the hand,
A Lily prison'd in a jail of snow.
_Venus and Adonis_ (361).
(27)
She locks her Lily fingers one in one.
_Ibid._ (228).
(28)
Whose wonted Lily white
With purple tears, that his wound wept, was drench'd.
_Ibid._ (1053).
Which is the queen of flowers? There are two rival candidates for the
honour--the Lily and the Rose; and as we look on the one or the other,
our allegiance is divided, and we vote the crown first to one and then
to the other. We should have no difficulty "were t'other fair charmer
away," but with two such candidates, both equally worthy of the honour,
we vote for a diarchy instead of a monarchy, and crown them both.[142:1]
Yet there are many that would at once choose the Lily for the queen,
and that without hesitation, and they would have good authority for
their choice. "O Lord, that bearest rule," says Esdras, "of the whole
world, Thou hast chosen Thee of all the flowers thereof one Lily."
Spenser addresses the Lily as--
"The Lily, lady of the flow'ring field"--_F. Q._, ii, 6, 16,
which is the same as Shakespeare's "mistress of the field," (8), and