The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
"framed as much as may be to a natural wildness," he says, "I like also
little heaps, in the nature of mole-hills (such as are in wild heaths)
to be set some with Wild Thyme, some with Pinks, some with Germander."
Yet the name may have been used sometimes as a general name for any
wild, strong-scented plant. It can only be in this sense that Milton
used it--
"Thee, shepherd! thee the woods and desert caves,
With Wild Thyme and the gadding Vine o'ergrown,
And all their echoes mourn."
_Lycidas._
for certainly a desert cave is almost the last place in which we should
look for the true Wild Thyme.
It is as a bee-plant especially that the Thyme has always been
celebrated. Spenser speaks of it as "the bees alluring Tyme," and Ovid
says of it, speaking of Chloris or Flora--
"Mella meum munus; volucres ego mella daturos
Ad violam et cytisos, et Thyma cana voco."
_Fasti_, v.
so that the Thyme became proverbial as the symbol of sweetness. It was
the highest compliment that the shepherd could pay to his mistress--
"Nerine Galatea, Thymo mihi dulcior Hyblæ."
VIRGIL, _Ecl._ vii.
And it was because of its wild Thyme that Mount Hymettus became so
celebrated for its honey--"Mella Thymi redolentia flore" (Ovid). "Thyme,
for the time it lasteth, yeeldeth most and best honni, and therefore in
old time was accounted chief (Thymus aptissimus ad mellificum--Pastus
gratissimus apibus Thymum est--Plinii, 'His. Nat.')
'Dum thymo pascentur apes, dum rore cicadæ.'
VIRGIL, _Georg._
Hymettus in Greece and Hybla in Sicily were so famous for Bees and
Honni, because there grew such store of Tyme; propter hoc Siculum mel
fert palmam, quod ibi Thymum bonum et frequens est."--VARRO, _The
Feminine Monarchie_, 1634.
The Wild Thyme can scarcely be considered a garden plant, except in its
variegated and golden varieties, which are very handsome, but if it
should ever come naturally in the turf, it should be welcomed and
cherished for its sweet scent. The garden Thyme (_T. vulgaris_) must of
course be in every herb garden; and there are a few species which make
good plants for the rockwork, such as T. lanceolatus from Greece, a very
low-growing shrub, with narrow, pointed leaves; T. carnosus, which makes
a pretty little shrub, and others; while the Corsican Thyme (_Mentha
Requieni_) is perhaps the lowest and closest-growing of all herbs,
making a dark-green covering to the soil, and having a very strong
scent, though more resembling Peppermint than Thyme.
TOADSTOOLS, _see_ MUSHROOMS.
TURNIPS.
_Anne._
Alas! I had rather be set quick i' the earth
And boul'd to death with Turnips.
_Merry Wives of Windsor_, act iii, sc. 4 (89).
The Turnips of Shakespeare's time were like ours, and probably as good,
though their cultivation seems to have been chiefly confined to gardens.
It is not very certain whether the cultivated Turnip is the wild Turnip
improved in England by cultivation, or whether we are indebted for it to
the Romans, and that the wild one is only the degenerate form of the
cultivated plant; for though the wild Turnip is admitted into the
English flora, yet its right to the admission is very doubtful. But if
we did not get the vegetable from the Romans we got its name. The old
name for it was _noep_, _nep_, or _neps_, which was only the English
form of the Latin _napus_, while Turnip is the corruption of _terræ
napus_, but when the first syllable was added I do not know. There is a
curious perversion in the name, for our Turnip is botanically Brassica
rapa, while the Rape is Brassica napus, so that the English and Latin
have changed places, the Napus becoming a Rape and the Rapa a Nep.
The present large field cultivation of Turnips is of comparatively a
modern date, though the field Turnip and garden Turnip are only
varieties of the same species, while there are also many varieties both
of the field and garden Turnip. "One field proclaims the Scotch variety,
while the bluer cast tells its hardy Swedish origin; the tankard
proclaims a deep soil, and the lover of boiled mutton, rejoicing, sees
the yellower tint of the Dutch or Stone Turnip, which he desires to meet
with again in the market."--PHILLIPS.
It is not very easy to speak of the moral qualities of Turnips, or to
make them the symbols of much virtue, yet Gwillim did so: "He beareth
sable, a Turnip proper, a chief or gutte de Larmes. This is a wholesome
root, and yieldeth great relief to the poor, and prospereth best in a
hot sandy ground, and may signifie a person of good disposition, whose
vertuous demeanour flourisheth most prosperously, even in that soil,
where the searching heat of envy most aboundeth. This differeth much in
nature from that whereof it is said, 'And that there should not be among
you any root that bringeth forth gall and wormwood.'"--GWILLIM'S
_Heraldry_, sec. iii. c. 11.
VETCHES.
_Iris._
Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas,
Of Wheat, Rye, Barley, Vetches, Oats, and Pease.
_Tempest_, act iv, sc. 1 (60).
The cultivated Vetch (_Vicia sativa_) is probably not a British plant,
and it is not very certain to what country it rightly belongs; but it
was very probably introduced into England by the Romans as an excellent
and easily-grown fodder-plant. There are several Vetches that are true
British plants, and they are among the most beautiful ornaments of our
lanes and hedges. Two especially deserve to take a place in the garden
for their beauty; but they require watching, or they will scramble into
parts where their presence is not desirable; these are V. cracca and V.
sylvatica. V. cracca has a very bright pure blue flower, and may be
allowed to scramble over low bushes; V. sylvatica is a tall climber, and
may be seen in copses and high hedges climbing to the tops of the Hazels
and other tall bushes. It is one of the most graceful of our British
plants, and perhaps quite the most graceful of our climbers; it bears an
abundance of flowers, which are pure white streaked and spotted with
pale blue; it is not a very common plant, but I have often seen it in
Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, and wherever it is found it is
generally in abundance.
The other name for the Vetch is Tares, which is, no doubt, an old
English word that has never been satisfactorily explained. The word has
an interest from its biblical associations, though modern scholars
decide that the Zizania is wrongly translated Tares, and that it is
rather a bastard Wheat or Darnel.
VINES.
(1) _Titania._
Feed him with Apricocks and Dewberries,
With purple Grapes, green Figs, and Mulberries.
_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iii, sc. 1 (169).
(2) _Menenius._
The tartness of his face sours ripe Grapes.
_Coriolanus_, act v, sc. 4 (18).
(3) _Song._
Come, thou monarch of the Vine,
Plumpy Bacchus, with pink eyne!
In thy fats our cares be drown'd,
With thy Grapes our hairs be crown'd.
_Antony and Cleopatra_, act ii, sc. 7 (120).
(4) _Cleopatra._
Now no more
The juice of Egypt's Grape shall moist this lip.
_Ibid._, act v, sc. 2 (284).
(5) _Timon._
Dry up thy Marrows, Vines, and plough-torn leas.
_Timon of Athens_, act iv, sc. 3 (193).
(6) _Timon._
Go, suck the subtle blood o' the Grape,
Till the high fever seethe your blood to froth.
_Ibid._ (432).
(7) _Touchstone._
The heathen philosopher, when he had a desire to eat a Grape,
would open his lips when he put it into his mouth; meaning
thereby that Grapes were made to eat and lips to open.
_As You Like It_, act v, sc. 1 (36).
(8) _Iago._
Blessed Fig's end! the wine she drinks is made of Grapes.
_Othello_, act ii, sc 1 (250).
(9) _Lafeu._
O, will you eat no Grapes, my royal fox?
Yes, but you will my noble Grapes, an if
My royal fox could reach them.
_All's Well that Ends Well_, act ii, sc. 1 (73).
(10) _Lafeu._
There's one Grape yet.
_Ibid._, act ii, sc. 1 (105).
(11) _Pompey._
'Twas in "The Bunch of Grapes," where, indeed, you have a
delight to sit.
_Measure for Measure_, act ii, sc. 1 (133).
(12) _Constable._
Let us quit all
And give our Vineyards to a barbarous people.
_Henry V_, act iii, sc. 5 (3).
(13) _Burgundy._
Her Vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unpruned, dies. . . .
. . . . . .
Our Vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges,
Defective in their natures, grow to wildness.
_Ibid._, act v, sc. 2 (41, 54).
(14) _Mortimer._
And pithless arms, like to a wither'd Vine
That droops his sapless branches to the ground.
_1st Henry VI_, act ii, sc. 5 (11).
(15) _Cranmer._
In her days every man shall eat in safety,
Under his own Vine, what he plants; and sing
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours.
_Henry VIII_, act v, sc. 5 (34).
(16) _Cranmer._
Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror,
That were the servants to this chosen infant,
Shall then be his, and like a Vine grow to him.
_Ibid._ (48).
(17) _Lear._
Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; to whose young love
The Vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd.
_King Lear_, act i, sc. 1 (84).
(18) _Arviragus._
And let the stinking Elder, grief, untwine
His perishing root with the increasing Vine!
_Cymbeline_, act iv, sc. 2 (59).
(19) _Adriana._
Thou art an Elm, my husband, I a Vine,
Whose weakness married to thy stronger state
Makes me with thy strength to communicate.
_Comedy of Errors_, act ii, sc. 2 (176).
(20) _Gonzalo._
Bound of land, tilth, Vineyard, none.
_Tempest_, act ii, sc. 1 (152).
(21) _Iris._
Thy pole-clipt Vineyard.
_Ibid._, act iv, sc. 1 (68).
(22) _Ceres._
Vines with clustering bunches growing,
Plants with goodly burthen bowing.
_Ibid._ (112).
(23) _Richmond._
The usurping boar,
That spoil'd your summer fields and fruitful Vines.
_Richard III_, act v, sc. 2 (7).
(24) _Isabella._
He hath a garden circummured with brick,
Whose western side is with a Vineyard back'd;
And to that Vineyard is a planched gate,
That makes his opening with this bigger key:
This other doth command a little door,
Which from the Vineyard to the garden leads.