The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
Springs the 'White man's foot' in blossom."
LONGFELLOW'S _Hiawatha_.
And "so it is a mistake to say that Plantain is derived from the
likeness of the plant to the sole of the foot, as in Richardson's
Dictionary. Rather say, because the herb grows under the sole of the
foot."--JOHNSTON. How, or when, or why the plant lost its old English
names to take the Latin name of Plantain, it is hard to say. It occurs
in a vocabulary of the names of plants of the middle of the thirteenth
century--"Plantago, Planteine, Weibrode," and apparently came to us from
the French, "Cy est assets de Planteyne, Weybrede."--WALTER DE
BIBLESWORTH (13th cent.) But with the exception of Chaucer[215:1] I
believe Shakespeare is almost the only early writer that uses the name,
though it is very certain that he did not invent it; but "Plantage" (No
3), which is doubtless the same plant, is peculiar to him.[215:2]
It was as a medical herb that our forefathers chiefly valued the
Plantain, and for medical purposes its reputation was of the very
highest. In a book of recipes (Lacnunga) of the eleventh century, by
Ælfric, is an address to the Waybroad, which is worth extracting at
length--
"And thou, Waybroad!
Mother of worts,
Open from eastward,
Mighty within;
Over thee carts creaked,
Over thee Queens rode,
Over thee brides bridalled,
Over thee bulls breathed,
All these thou withstood'st
Venom and vile things
And all the loathly ones
That through the land rove."
COCKAYNE'S _Translation_.
In another earlier recipe book the Waybroad is prescribed for
twenty-two diseases, one after another; and in another of the same date
we are taught how to apply it: "If a man ache in half his head . . .
delve up Waybroad without iron ere the rising of the sun, bind the roots
about the head with Crosswort by a red fillet, soon he will be well."
But the Plantain did not long sustain its high reputation, which even in
Shakespeare's time had become much diminished. "I find," says Gerard,
"in ancient writers many good-morrowes, which I think not meet to bring
into your memorie againe; as that three roots will cure one griefe, four
another disease, six hanged about the neck are good for another maladie,
&c., all which are but ridiculous toys." Yet the bruised leaves still
have some reputation as a styptic and healing plaster among country
herbalists, and perhaps the alleged virtues are not altogether fanciful.
As a garden plant the Plantain can only be regarded as a weed and
nuisance, especially on lawns, where it is very difficult to destroy
them. Yet there are some curious varieties which may claim a corner
where botanical curiosities are grown. The Plantain seems to have a
peculiar tendency to run into abnormal forms, many of which will be
found described and figured in Dr. Masters' "Vegetable Teratology," and
among these forms are two which are exactly like a double green Rose,
and have been cultivated as the Rose Plantain for many years. They were
grown by Gerard, who speaks of "the beauty which is in the plant," and
compared it to "a fine double Rose of a hoary or rusty greene colour."
Parkinson also grew it and valued it highly.
FOOTNOTES:
[214:1] Of these names Plantain properly belongs to Plantago major;
Lamb's-tongue to P. media; and Kemps, Cocks, and Ribwort to P.
lanceolata.
[215:1]
"His forehead dropped as a stillatorie
Were ful of Plantayn and peritorie."
_Prologue of the Chanoune's Yeman._
[215:2] Nares, and Schmidt from him, consider Plantage = anything
planted.
PLUMS, WITH DAMSONS AND PRUNES.
(1) _Constance._
Give grandam kingdom, and it grandam will
Give it a Plum, a Cherry, and a Fig.
_King John_, act ii, sc. 1 (161).
(2) _Hamlet._
The satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards,
that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick
amber and Plum-tree gum.
_Hamlet_, act ii, sc. 2 (198).
(3) _Simpcox._
A fall off a tree.
_Wife._
A Plum-tree, master.
* * * * *
_Gloucester._
Mass, thou lovedst Plums well that wouldst venture so.
_Simpcox._
Alas! good master, my wife desired some Damsons,
And made me climb with danger of my life.
_2nd Henry VI_, act ii, sc. 1 (196).
(4) _Evans._
I will dance and eat Plums at your wedding.
_Merry Wives of Windsor_, act v, sc. 5.[217:1]
(5)
The mellow Plum doth fall, the green sticks fast,
Or, being early pluck'd, is sour to taste.
_Venus and Adonis_ (527).
(6)
Like a green Plum that hangs upon a tree,
And falls, through wind, before the fall should be.
_Passionate Pilgrim_ (135).
(7) _Slender._
Three veneys for a dish of stewed Prunes.
_Merry Wives of Windsor_, act i, sc. 1 (295).
(8) _Falstaff._
There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed Prune.
_1st Henry IV_, act iii, sc. 3 (127).
(9) _Pompey._
Longing (saving your honour's presence) for stewed Prunes.
* * * * *
And longing, as I said, for Prunes.
* * * * *
You being then, if you he remembered, cracking the stones of
the foresaid Prunes.
_Measure for Measure_, act ii, sc. 1 (92).
(10) _Clown._
Four pounds of Prunes, and as many of Raisins of the sun.
_Winters Tale_, act iv, sc. 3 (51).
(11) _Falstaff._
Hang him, rogue; he lives upon mouldy stewed Prunes and dried
cakes.
_2nd Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 4 (158).
Plums, Damsons, and Prunes may conveniently be joined together, Plums
and Damsons being often used synonymously (as in No. 3), and Prunes
being the dried Plums. The Damsons were originally, no doubt, a good
variety from the East, and nominally from Damascus.[217:2] They seem to
have been considered great delicacies, as in a curious allegorical
drama of the fifteenth century, called "La Nef de Sante," of which an
account is given by Mr. Wright: "Bonne-Compagnie, to begin the day,
orders a collation, at which, among other things, are served Damsons
(_Prunes de Damas_), which appear at this time to have been considered
as delicacies. There is here a marginal direction to the purport that if
the morality should be performed in the season when real Damsons could
not be had, the performers must have some made of wax to look like real
ones" ("History of Domestic Manners," &c.).
The garden Plums are a good cultivated variety of our own wild Sloe, but
a variety that did not originate in England, and may very probably have
been introduced by the Romans. The Sloe and Bullace are, speaking
botanically, two sub-species of Prunus communis, while the Plum is a
third sub-species (P. communis domestica). The garden Plum is
occasionally found wild in England, but is certainly not indigenous. It
is somewhat strange that our wild plant is not mentioned by Shakespeare
under any of its well-known names of Sloe, Bullace, and Blackthorn. Not
only is it a shrub of very marked appearance in our hedgerows in early
spring, when it is covered with its pure white blossoms, but Blackthorn
staves were indispensable in the rough game of quarterstaff, and the
Sloe gave point to more than one English proverb: "as black as a Sloe,"
was a very common comparison, and "as useless as a Sloe," or "not worth
a Sloe," was as common.
"Sir Amys answered, 'Tho'
I give thee thereof not one Sloe!
Do right all that thou may!"
_Amys and Amylion_--ELLIS'S _Romances_.
"The offecial seyde, Thys ys nowth
Be God, that me der bowthe,
Het ys not worthe a Sclo."
_The Frere and His Boy_--RITSON'S _Ancient Popular Poetry_.
Though even as a fruit the Sloe had its value, and was not altogether
despised by our ancestors, for thus Tusser advises--
"By thend of October go gather up Sloes,
Have thou in readines plentie of thoes,
And keepe them in bed-straw, or still on the bow,
To staie both the flix of thyselfe and thy cow."
As soon as the garden Plum was introduced, great attention seems to have
been paid to it, and the gardeners of Shakespeare's time could probably
show as good Plums as we can now. "To write of Plums particularly," said
Gerard, "would require a peculiar volume. . . . Every clymate hath his
owne fruite, far different from that of other countries; my selfe have
threescore sorts in my garden, and all strange and rare; there be in
other places many more common, and yet yearly commeth to our hands
others not before knowne."
FOOTNOTES:
[217:1] Omitted in the Globe edition.
[217:2] Bullein, in his "Government of Health," 1588, calls them
"Damaske Prunes."
POMEGRANATE.
(1) _Lafeu._
Go to, sir, you were beaten in Italy for picking a kernel out
of a Pomegranate.
_All's Well that Ends Well_, act ii, sc. 3 (275).
(2) _Juliet._
It was the nightingale and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yon Pomegranate tree.[219:1]
_Romeo and Juliet_, act iii, sc. 5 (2).
(3) _Francis._
Anon, anon, sir, Look down into the Pomegarnet, Ralph.
_1st Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 4 (41).
There are few trees that surpass the Pomegranate in interest and beauty
combined. "Whoever has seen the Pomegranate in a favourable soil and
climate, whether as a single shrub or grouped many together, has seen
one of the most beautiful of green trees; its spiry shape and
thick-tufted foliage of vigorous green, each growing shoot shaded into
tenderer verdure and bordered with crimson and adorned with the
loveliest flowers; filmy petals of scarlet lustre are put forth from the
solid crimson cup, and the ripe fruit of richest hue and most admirable
shape."--LADY CALCOTT'S _Scripture Herbal_. A simpler but more valued
testimony to the beauty of the Pomegranate is borne in its selection for
the choicest ornaments on the ark of the Tabernacle, on the priest's
vestments, and on the rich capitals of the pillars in the Temple of
Solomon.
The native home of the Pomegranate is not very certainly known, but the
evidence chiefly points to the North of Africa. It was very early
cultivated in Egypt, and was one of the Egyptian delicacies so fondly
remembered by the Israelites in their desert wanderings, and is
frequently met with in Egyptian sculpture. It was abundant in Palestine,
and is often mentioned in the Bible, and always as an object of beauty
and desire. It was highly appreciated by the Greeks and Romans, but it
was probably not introduced into Italy in very early times, as Pliny is
the first author that certainly mentions it, though some critics have
supposed that the _aurea mala_ and _aurea poma_ of Virgil and Ovid were
Pomegranates. From Italy the tree soon spread into other parts of
Europe, taking with it its Roman name of _Punica malus_ or _Pomum
granatum_. _Punica_ showed the country from which the Romans derived it,
while _granatum_ (full of grains) marked the special characteristic of