The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
_Lucrece_ (316).
(17) _See_ REEDS, No. 7.
(18) _Wooer._
Rings she made
Of Rushes that grew by, and to 'em spoke
The prettiest posies.
_Two Noble Kinsmen_, act iv, sc. 1 (109).
_See also_ FLAG, REED, _and_ BULRUSH.
Like the Reed, the Rush often stands for any water-loving, grassy
plant, and, like the Reed, it was the emblem of yielding weakness and of
uselessness.[264:1] The three principal Rushes referred to by
Shakespeare are the Common Rush (_Juncus communis_), the Bulrush
(_Scirpus lacustris_), and the Sweet Rush (_Acorus calamus_).
The Common Rush, though the mark of badly cultivated ground, and the
emblem of uselessness, was not without its uses, some of which are
referred to in Nos. 1, 3, and 11. In Nos. 3 and 18 reference is made to
the Rush-ring, a ring, no doubt, originally meant and used for the
purposes of honest betrothal, but afterwards so vilely used for the
purposes of mock marriages, that even as early as 1217 Richard Bishop of
Salisbury had to issue his edict against the use of "annulum de junco."
The Rush betrothal ring is mentioned by Spenser--
"O thou great shepheard, Lobbin, how great is thy griefe!
Where bene the nosegayes that she dight for thee?
The coloured chaplets wrought with a chiefe,
The knotted Rush-ringes and gilt Rosemarie."
_Shepherd's Calendar--November._
And by Quarles--
"Love-sick swains
Compose Rush-rings, and Myrtle-berry chains,
And stuck with glorious King-cups in their bonnets,
Adorned with Laurel slip, chant true love sonnets."
But the uses of the Rush were not all bad. Newton, in 1587, said of the
Rush--"It is a round smooth shoote without joints or knots, having
within it a white substance or pith, which being drawn forth showeth
like long white, soft, gentle, and round thread, and serveth for many
purposes. Heerewith be made manie pretie imagined devises for Bride-ales
and other solemnities, as little baskets, hampers, frames, pitchers,
dishes, combs, brushes, stooles, chaires, purses with strings, girdles,
and manie such other pretie and curious and artificiall conceits, which
at such times many do take the paines to make and hang up in their
houses, as tokens of good will to the new married Bride; and after the
solemnities ended, to bestow abroad for Bride-gifts or presents." It was
this "white substance or pith" from which the Rush candle (No. 11) was
and still is made: a candle which in early days was probably the
universal candle, which, till within a few years, was the night candle
of every sick chamber, in which most of us can recollect it as a most
ghastly object as it used to stand, "stationed in a basin on the floor,
where it glimmered away like a gigantic lighthouse in a particularly
small piece of water" (Pickwick), till expelled by the night-lights, and
which is still made by Welsh labourers, and, I suppose, in Shakespeare's
time was the only candle used by the poor.
"If your influence be quite damm'd up
With black usurping mists, some gentle taper,
Though a Rush-candle from the wicker hole
Of some clay habitation, visit us
With thy long levell'd rule of streaming light."--_Comus._
But the chief use of Rushes in those days was to strew the floors of
houses and churches (Nos. 4, 7, 10, 12, and 14). This custom seems to
have been universal in all houses of any pretence. "William the son of
William of Alesbury holds three roods of land of the Lord the King in
Alesbury in Com. Buck by the service of finding straw for the bed of the
Lord the King, and to strew his chamber, and also of finding for the
King when he comes to Alesbury straw for his bed, and besides this Grass
or Rushes to make his chamber pleasant."--BLUNT'S _Tenures_. The custom
went on even to our own day in Norwich Cathedral, and the "picturesque
custom still lingers in the West of strewing the floors of the churches
on Whit Sunday with Rushes freshly pulled from the meadows. This custom
attains its highest perfection in the church of St. Mary Redcliffe at
Bristol. On 'Rush Sunday' the floor is strewn with Rushes. All the
merchants throw open their conservatories for the vicar to take his
choice of their flowers, and the pulpit, the lectern, the choir, and the
communion rails and table present a scene of great beauty."--_The
Garden_, May, 1877.
For this purpose the Sweet-scented Rush was always used where it could
be procured, and when first laid down it must have made a pleasant
carpet; but it was a sadly dirty arrangement, and gives us a very poor
idea of the cleanliness of even the best houses, though it probably was
not the custom all through the year, as Newton says, speaking of Sedges,
but evidently confusing the Sedge with the Sweet-scented Rush, "with the
which many in this countrie do use in sommer time to straw their
parlours and churches, as well for cooleness as for pleasant
smell."[266:1] This Rush (_Acorus calamus_) is a British plant, with
broad leaves, which have a strong cinnamon-like smell, which obtained
for the plant the old Saxon name of Beewort. Another (so-called) Rush,
the Flowering Rush (_Butomus umbellatus_), is one of the very handsomest
of the British plants, bearing on a long straight stem a large umbel of
very handsome pink flowers. Wherever there is a pond in a garden, these
fine Rushes should have a place, though they may be grown in the open
border where the ground is not too dry.
There is a story told by Sir John Mandeville in connection with Rushes
which is not easy to understand. According to his account, our Saviour's
crown of thorns was made of Rushes! "And zif alle it be so that men seyn
that this Croune is of Thornes, zee shall undirstande that it was of
Jonkes of the See, that is to sey, Russhes of the See, that prykken als
scharpely as Thornes. For I have seen and beholden many times that of
Parys and that of Constantynoble, for thei were bothe on, made of
Russches of the See. But men have departed hem in two parties, of the
which on part is at Parys, and the other part is at Constantynoble--and
I have on of the precyouse Thornes, that semethe licke a white Thorn,
and that was zoven to me for great specyaltee. . . . The Jewes setten
him in a chayere and clad him in a mantelle, and then made thei the
Croune of Jonkes of the See."--_Voiage and Travaile,_ c. 2.
I have no certainty to what Rush the pleasant old traveller can here
refer. I can only guess that as Rushes and Sedges were almost
interchangeable names, he may have meant the Sea Holly, formerly called
the Holly-sedge, of which there is a very appropriate account given in
an old Saxon runelay thus translated by Cockayne: "Hollysedge hath its
dwelling oftenest in a marsh, it waxeth in water, woundeth fearfully,
burneth with blood (_i.e._, draws blood and pains) every one of men who
to it offers any handling."[267:1]
FOOTNOTES:
[264:1]
"Around the islet at its lowest edge,
Lo, there beneath, where breaks th' encircling wave,
The yielding mud is thick with Rushes crowned.
No other flower with frond or leafy growth
Or hardened fibre there can life sustain,
For none bend safely to the watery shock."
DANTE, _Purgatorio_, canto i. (Johnston).
[266:1] "In the South of Europe Juniper branches were used for this
purpose, as they still are in Sweden."--_Flora Domestica_, p. 213.
"As I have seen upon a bridal day,
Full many maids clad in their best array,
In honour of the bride, come with their flaskets
Filled full of flowers, other in wicker baskets
Bring from the Marish Rushes, to overspread
The ground whereon to Church the lovers tread."
BROWNE'S _Brit. Past._, i, 2.
[267:1] I leave this as I first wrote it, but I have to thank Mr.
Britten for the very probable suggestion that Sir John Mandeville was
right. Not only does the _Juncus acutus_ "prykken als scharpely as
Thornes," but "what is shown in Paris at the present day as the crown of
Thorns is certainly, as Sir John says, made of rushes; the curious may
consult M. Rohault de Fleury's sumptuous 'Mémoire sur les Instruments de
la Passion,' for a full description of it."
RYE.
(1) _Iris._
Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas
Of Wheat, Rye, Barley, Vetches, Oats, and Pease.
_Tempest_, act iv, sc. 1 (60).
(2) _Iris._
You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow and be merry;
Make holiday; your Rye-straw hats put on.
_Ibid._, act iv, sc. 1 (135).
(3) _Song._
Between the acres of the Rye
These pretty country folks would lye.
_As You Like It_, act v, sc. 3 (23).
The Rye of Shakespeare's time was identical with our own (_Secale
cereale_). It is not a British plant, and its native country is not
exactly known; but it seems probable that both the plant and the name
came from the region of the Caucasus.
As a food-plant Rye was not in good repute in Shakespeare's time. Gerard
said of it, "It is harder to digest than Wheat, yet to rusticke bodies
that can well digest it, it yields good nourishment." But "recent
investigations by Professor Wanklyn and Mr. Cooper appear to give the
first place to Rye as the most nutritious of all our cereals. Rye
contains more gluten, and is pronounced by them one-third richer than
Wheat. Rye, moreover, is capable of thriving in almost any
soil."--_Gardener's Chronicle_, 1877.
SAFFRON.
(1) _Ceres._
Who (_i.e._, Iris), with thy Saffron wings upon my flowers,
Diffusest honeydrops, refreshing showers.
_Tempest_, act iv, sc. 1 (78).
(2) _Antipholus of Ephesus._
Did this companion with the Saffron face
Revel and feast it at my house to day?
_Comedy of Errors_, act iv, sc. 4 (64).
(3) _Clown._
I must have Saffron to colour the Warden pies.
_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 3 (48).
(4) _Lafeu._
No, no, no, your son was misled with a snipt-taffeta fellow
there, whose villanous Saffron would have made all the
unbaked and doughy youth of a nation in his colour.
_All's Well that Ends Well_, act iv, sc. 5 (1).
Saffron (from its Arabic name, _al zahafaran_) was not, in Shakespeare's
time, limited to the drug or to the Saffron-bearing Crocus (_C.
sativus_), but it was the general name for all the Croci, and was even
extended to the Colchicums, which were called Meadow Saffrons.[268:1] We
have no Crocus really a native of Britain, but a few species (C. vernus,
C. nudiflorus, C. aureus, and C. biflorus) have been so naturalized in
certain parts as to be admitted, though very doubtfully, into the
British flora; but the Saffron Crocus can in no way be considered a
native, and the history of its introduction into England is very
obscure. It is mentioned several times in the Anglo-Saxon Leech Books:
"When he bathes, let him smear himself with oil; mingle it with
Saffron."--_Tenth Century Leech Book_, ii. 37. "For dimness of eyes,
thus one must heal it: take Celandine one spoonful, and Aloes, and
Crocus (Saffron in French)."--_Schools of Medicine_, tenth century, c.
22. In these instances it may be only the imported drug; but the name
occurs in an English Vocabulary among the Nomina herbarum: "Hic Crocus,