The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
it is never or very seldome to be found growing naturally but under a
gallowes, where the matter that has fallen from a dead body hath given
it the shape of a man, and the matter of a woman the substance of a
female plant, with many other such doltish dreams. They fable further
and affirme that he who would take up a plant thereof must tie a dog
thereunto to pull it up, which will give a great shreeke at the digging
up, otherwise, if a man should do it, he should surely die in a short
space after." This, with the addition that the plant is decidedly
narcotic, will sufficiently explain all Shakespeare's references.
Gerard, however, omits to notice one thing which, in justice to our
forefathers, should not be omitted. These fables on the Mandrake are by
no means English mediæval fables, but they were of foreign extraction,
and of very ancient date. Josephus tells the same story as held by the
Jews in his time and before his time. Columella even spoke of the plant
as "semi-homo;" and Pythagoras called it "Anthropomorphus;" and Dr.
Daubeny has published in his "Roman Husbandry" a most curious drawing
from the Vienna MS. of Dioscorides in the fifth century, "representing
the Goddess of Discovery presenting to Dioscorides the root of this
Mandrake" (of thoroughly human shape) "which she had just pulled up,
while the unfortunate dog which had been employed for that purpose is
depicted in the agonies of death."[154:1] All these beliefs have long, I
should hope, been extinct among us; yet even now artists who draw the
plant are tempted to fancy a resemblance to the human figure, and in the
"Flora Græca," where, for the most part, the figures of the plants are
most beautifully accurate, the figure of the Mandrake is painfully
human.[154:2]
As a garden plant, the Mandrake is often grown, but more for its
curiosity than its beauty; the leaves appear early in the spring,
followed very soon by its dull and almost inconspicuous flowers, and
then by its Apple-like fruit. This is the Spring Mandrake (_Mandragora
vernalis_), but the Autumn Mandrake (_M. autumnalis_ or _microcarpa_)
may be grown as an ornamental plant. The leaves appear in the autumn,
and are succeeded by a multitude of pale-blue flowers about the size of
and very much resembling the Anemone pulsatilla (see Sweet's "Flower
Garden," vol. vii. No. 325). These remain in flower a long time. In my
own garden they have been in flower from the beginning of November till
May. I need only add that the Mandrake is a native of the South of
Europe and other countries bordering on the Mediterranean, but it was
very early introduced into England. It is named in Archbishop Ælfric's
"Vocabulary" in the tenth century with the very expressive name of
"Earth-apple;" it is again named in an Anglo-Saxon Vocabulary of the
eleventh century (in the British Museum), but without any English
equivalent; and Gerard cultivated both sorts in his garden.
FOOTNOTES:
[154:1] In the "Bestiary of Philip de Thaun" (12 cent.), published in
Wright's Popular Treatises on Science written during the Middle Ages,
the male and female Mandrake are actually reckoned among living beasts
(p. 101).
[154:2] For some curious early English notices of the Mandrake, see
"Promptorium Parvulorum," p. 324, note. See also Brown's "Vulgar
Errors," book ii. c. 6, and Dr. M. C. Cooke's "Freaks of Plant Life."
MARIGOLD.
(1) _Perdita._
The Marigold that goes to bed wi' the sun,
And with him rises weeping; these are flowers
Of middle summer.
_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 4 (105).
(2) _Marina._
The purple Violets and Marigolds
Shall, as a carpet, hang upon thy grave
While summer-days do last.
_Pericles_, act iv, sc. 1 (16).
(3) _Song._
And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes.
_Cymbeline_, act ii, sc. 3 (25).
(4)
Marigolds on death-beds blowing.
_Two Noble Kinsmen_, Introd. song.
(5)
Great princes' favourites their fair leaves spread
But as the Marigolds at the sun's eye.
_Sonnet_ xxv.
(6)
Her eyes, like Marigolds, had sheathed their light,
And canopied in darkness sweetly lay,
Till they might open to adorn the day.
_Lucrece_ (397).
There are at least three plants which claim to be the old Marigold. 1.
The Marsh Marigold (_Caltha palustris_). This is a well-known golden
flower--
"The wild Marsh Marigold shines like fire in swamps and hollows
gray."
TENNYSON.
And there is this in favour of its being the flower meant, that the name
signifies the golden blossom of the marish or marsh; but, on the other
hand, the Caltha does not fulfil the conditions of Shakespeare's
Marigold--it does not open and close its flowers with the sun. 2. The
Corn Marigold (_Chrysanthemum segetum_), a very handsome but mischievous
weed in Corn-fields, not very common in England and said not to be a
true native, but more common in Scotland, where it is called Goulands. I
do not think this is the flower, because there is no proof, as far as I
know, that it was called Marigold in Shakespeare's time. 3. The Garden
Marigold or Ruddes (_Calendula officinalis_). I have little doubt this
is the flower meant; it was always a great favourite in our forefathers'
gardens, and it is hard to give any reason why it should not be so in
ours. Yet it has been almost completely banished, and is now seldom
found but in the gardens of cottages and old farmhouses, where it is
still prized for its bright and almost everlasting flowers (looking very
like a Gazania) and evergreen tuft of leaves, while the careful
housewife still picks and carefully stores the petals of the flowers,
and uses them in broths and soups, believing them to be of great
efficacy, as Gerard said they were, "to strengthen and comfort the
heart;" though scarcely perhaps rating them as high as Fuller: "we all
know the many and sovereign vertues . . . in your leaves, the Herb
Generall in all pottage" ("Antheologie," 1655, p. 52).
The two properties of the Marigold--that it was always in flower, and
that it turned its flowers to the sun and followed his guidance in their
opening and shutting--made it a very favourite flower with the poets and
emblem writers. T. Forster, in the "Circle of the Seasons," 1828, says
that "this plant received the name of Calendula, because it was in
flower on the calends of nearly every month. It has been called Marigold
for a similar reason, being more or less in blow at the times of all the
festivals of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the word gold having reference to
its golden rays, likened to the rays of light around the head of the
Blessed Virgin." This is ingenious, and, as he adds, "thus say the old
writers," it is worth quoting, though he does not say what old writer
gave this derivation, which I am very sure is not the true one. The old
name is simply _goldes_. Gower, describing the burning of Leucothoe,
says--
"She sprong up out of the molde
Into a flour, was named Golde,
Which stant governed of the Sonne."
_Conf. Aman._, lib. quint.
Chaucer spoke of the "yellow Goldes;"[157:1] in the "Promptorium
Parvulorum" we have "Goolde, herbe, solsequium, quia sequitur solem,
elitropium, calendula;" and Spenser says--
"And if I her like ought on earth might read
I would her liken to a crowne of Lillies,
Upon a virgin brydes adorned head,
With Roses dight and Goolds and Daffodillies."
_Colin Clout._
But it was its other quality of opening or shutting its flowers at the
sun's bidding that made the Marigold such a favourite with the old
writers, especially those who wrote on religious emblems. It was to them
the emblem of constancy in affection,[157:2] and sympathy in joy and
sorrow, though it was also the emblem of the fawning courtier, who can
only shine when everything is bright. As the emblem of constancy, it was
to the old writers what the Sunflower was to Moore--
"The Sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she did when he rose."
It was the Heliotrope or Solsequium or Turnesol of our forefathers, and
is the flower often alluded to under that name.[158:1] "All yellow
flowers," says St. Francis de Sales, "and, above all, those that the
Greeks call Heliotrope, and we call Sunflower, not only rejoice at the
sight of the sun, but follow with loving fidelity the attraction of its
rays, gazing at the sun, and turning towards it from its rising to its
setting" ("Divine Love," Mulholland's translation).
Of this higher and more religious use of the emblematic flower there are
frequent examples. I will only give one from G. Withers, a contemporary
of Shakespeare's later life--
"When with a serious musing I behold
The grateful and obsequious Marigold,
How duly every morning she displays
Her open breast when Phoebus spreads his rays;
How she observes him in his daily walk,
Still bending towards him her small slender stalk;
How when he down declines she droops and mourns,
Bedewed, as 'twere, with tears till he returns;
And how she veils her flowers when he is gone.
When this I meditate, methinks the flowers
Have spirits far more generous than ours,
And give us fair examples to despise
The servile fawnings and idolatries
Wherewith we court these earthly things below,
Which merit not the service we bestow."
From the time of Withers the poets treated the Marigold very much as the
gardeners did--they passed it by altogether as beneath their notice.
FOOTNOTES:
[157:1]
"That werud of yolo Guldes a garland."
_The Knightes Tale._
[157:2]
"You the Sun to her must play,
She to you the Marigold,
To none but you her leaves unfold."
MIDDLETON AND ROWLEY, _The Spanish Gipsy_.
See also Thynne's "Emblems," No. 18; and Cutwode's "Caltha Poetarum,"
1599, st. 18, 19.
[158:1] "Solsequium vel heliotropium; Solsece vel sigel-hwerfe" (_i.e._,
sun-seeker or sun-turner).--ÆLFRIC'S _Vocabulary_.
"Marigolde; solsequium, sponsa solis."--_Catholicon Anglicum._
In a note Mr. Herttage says, "the oldest name for the plant was
_ymbglidegold_, that which moves round with the sun."
MARJORAM.
(1) _Perdita._
Here's flowers for you;
Hot Lavender, Mints, Savory, Marjoram.
_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 4 (103).
(2) _Lear._
Give the word.
_Edgar._
Sweet Marjoram.
_Lear._
Pass.
_King Lear_, act iv, sc. 6 (93).
(3)
The Lily I condemned for thy hand,
And buds of Marjoram had stolen thy hair.
_Sonnet_ xcix.
(4) _Clown._
Indeed, sir, she was the sweet Marjoram of the Salad, or
rather the Herb-of-grace.
_All's Well that Ends Well_, act iv, sc. 5 (17).
In Shakespeare's time several species of Marjoram were grown, especially
the Common Marjoram (_Origanum vulgare_), a British plant, the Sweet
Marjoram (_O. Marjorana_), a plant of the South of Europe, from which
the English name comes,[159:1] and the Winter Marjoram (_O.