The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
spring, when it can set its little foot on six at once, and it readily
lends itself to the delightful manufacture of Daisy chains.
"In the spring and play-time of the year,
. . . . the little ones, a sportive team,
Gather king-cups in the yellow mead,
And prank their hair with Daisies."--COWPER.
It is then the special flower of childhood, but we cannot entirely give
it up to our children. And I have tried to show you that the humble
Daisy has been the delight of many noble minds, and may be a fit subject
of study even for those children of a larger growth who form the "Bath
Field Club."
FOOTNOTES:
[362:1] "In the curious Treatise of the Virtues of Herbs, Royal MS. 18,
a. vi, fol. 72 b, is mentioned: 'Brysewort, or Bonwort, or Daysye,
_consolida minor_, good to breke bocches.'"--_Promptorium Parvulorum_,
p. 52, note. See also a good note on the same word in "Babee's Book," p.
185.
[366:1] This is the general interpretation, but "decking prime" may mean
the ornament of spring.
[370:1] This statement has been objected to, but I retain it, because in
speaking of a meadow, I mean what is called a meadow in the south of
England, a lowland, and often irrigated, pasture. In such a meadow
Daisies have no place. In the North the word is more loosely used for
any pasture, but in the South the distinction is so closely drawn that
hay dealers make a great difference in their prices for "upland" or
"meadow hay."
[372:1] "Modern Painters," vol. ii. p. 186.
[374:1] In the "Cornhill Magazine" for January, 1878, is a pleasant
paper on "Dissecting a Daisy," treating a little of the Daisy, but still
more of the pleasures that a Daisy gives to different people, and the
different reasons for the different sorts of pleasure. See also on the
same subject the "Cornhill" for June, 1882.
[377:1] Boulger in "Nature," Aug., 1878. The insects are given in Herman
Muller's "Befructting der Blumen."
[377:2] "Haven of Health," 1596, p. 83.
APPENDIX II.
_THE SEASONS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS._
_Biron._ I like of each thing that in season grows.
_Love's Labour's Lost_, act i, sc. 1.
This paper was read to the New Shakespeare Society in June, 1880, and
to the Bath Literary Club in the following November. The subject is so
closely connected with the "Plant-lore of Shakespeare," that I add it as
an Appendix.
THE SEASONS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS.
In this paper I do not propose to make any exhaustive inquiry into the
seasons of Shakespeare's plays, but (at Mr. Furnivall's suggestion) I
have tried to find out whether in any case the season that was in the
poet's mind can be discovered by the flowers or fruits, or whether,
where the season is otherwise indicated, the flowers and fruits are in
accordance. In other words, my inquiry is simply confined to the
argument, if any, that may be derived from the flowers and fruits,
leaving out of the question all other indications of the seasons.
The first part of the inquiry is, what plants or flowers are mentioned
in each play? They are as follows:--
COMEDIES.
_Tempest._ Apple, crab, wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats, peas, briar,
furze, gorse, thorns, broom, cedar, corn, cowslip, nettle, docks,
mallow, filbert, heath, ling, grass, nut, ivy, lily, piony, lime,
mushrooms, oak, acorn, pignuts, pine, reed, saffron, sedges, stover,
vine.
_Two Gentlemen of Verona._ Lily, roses, sedges.
_Merry Wives._ Pippins, buttons (?), balm, bilberry, cabbage, carrot,
elder, eringoes, figs, flax, hawthorn, oak, pear, plums, prunes,
potatoes, pumpion, roses, turnips, walnut.
_Twelfth Night._ Apple, box, ebony, flax, nettle, olive, squash,
peascod, codling, roses, violet, willow, yew.
_Measure for Measure._ Birch, burs, corn, garlick, medlar, oak, myrtle,
peach, prunes, grapes, vine, violet.
_Much Ado._ Carduus benedictus, honeysuckle, woodbine, oak, orange,
rose, sedges, willow.
_Midsummer Night's Dream._ Crab, apricots, beans, briar, red rose,
broom, bur, cherry, corn, cowslip, dewberries, oxlip, violet, woodbine,
eglantine, elm, ivy, figs, mulberries, garlick, onions, grass, hawthorn,
nuts, hemp, honeysuckle, knot-grass, leek, lily, peas, peas-blossom,
oak, acorn, oats, orange, love-in-idleness, primrose, musk-rose buds,
musk-roses, rose, thistle, thorns, thyme, grapes, violet, wheat.
_Love's Labour's Lost._ Apple, pomewater, crab, cedar, lemon, cockle,
mint, columbine, corn, daisies, lady-smocks, cuckoo-buds, ebony, elder,
grass, lily, nutmeg, oak, osier, oats, peas, plantain, rose, sycamore,
thorns, violets, wormwood.
_Merchant of Venice._ Apple, grass, pines, reed, wheat, willow.
_As You Like It._ Acorns, hawthorn, brambles, briar, bur, chestnut,
cork, nuts, holly, medlar, moss, mustard, oak, olive, palm, peascod,
rose, rush, rye, sugar, grape, osier.
_All's Well._ Briar, date, grass, nut, marjoram, herb of grace, onions,
pear, pomegranate, roses, rush, saffron, grapes.
_Taming of Shrew._ Apple, crab, chestnut, cypress, hazel, oats, onion,
love-in-idleness, mustard, parsley, roses, rush, sedges, walnut.
_Winter's Tale._ Briars, carnations, gillyflower, cork, oxlips, crown
imperial, currants, daffodils, dates, saffron, flax, lilies,
flower-de-luce, garlick, ivy, lavender, mints, savory, marjoram,
marigold, nettle, oak, warden, squash, pines, prunes, primrose,
damask-roses, rice, raisins, rosemary, rue, thorns, violets.
_Comedy of Errors._ Balsam, ivy, briar, moss, rush, nut, cherrystone,
elm, vine, grass, saffron.
HISTORIES.
_King John._ Plum, cherry, fig, lily, rose, violet, rush, thorns.
_Richard II._ Apricots, balm, bay, corn, grass, nettles, pines, rose,
rue, thorns, violets, yew.
_1st Henry IV._ Apple-john, pease, beans, blackberries, camomile,
fernseed, garlick, ginger, moss, nettle, oats, prunes, pomegranate,
radish, raisins, reeds, rose, rush, sedges, speargrass, thorns.
_2nd Henry IV._ Aconite, apple-john, leathercoats, aspen, balm,
carraways, corn, ebony, elm, fennel, fig, gooseberries, hemp,
honeysuckle, mandrake, olive, peach, peascod, pippins, prunes, radish,
rose, rush, wheat.
_Henry V._ Apple, balm, docks, elder, fig, flower-de-luce, grass, hemp,
leek, nettle, fumitory, kecksies, burs, cowslips, burnet, clover,
darnel, strawberry, thistles, vine, violet, hemlock.
_1st Henry VI._ Briar, white and red rose, corn, flower-de-luce, vine.
_2nd Henry VI._ Crab, cedar, corn, cypress, fig, flax, flower-de-luce,
grass, hemp, laurel, mandrake, pine, plums, damsons, primrose, thorns.
_3d Henry VI._ Balm, cedar, corn, hawthorn, oaks, olive, laurel, thorns.
_Richard III._ Balm, cedar, roses, strawberry, vines.
_Henry VIII._ Apple, crab, bays, palms, broom, cherry, cedar, corn,
lily, vine.
TRAGEDIES.
_Troilus and Cressida._ Almond, balm, blackberry, burs, date, nut,
laurels, lily, toadstool, nettle, oak, pine, plantain, potato, wheat.
_Timon of Athens._ Balm, balsam, oaks, briars, grass, medlar, moss,
olive, palm, rose, grape.
_Coriolanus._ Crab, ash, briars, cedar, cockle, corn, cypress, garlick,
mulberry, nettle, oak, orange, palm, rush, grape.
_Macbeth._ Balm, chestnut, corn, hemlock, insane root, lily, primrose,
rhubarb, senna (cyme), yew.
_Julius Cæsar._ Oak, palm.
_Antony and Cleopatra._ Balm, figs, flag, laurel, mandragora, myrtle,
olive, onions, pine, reeds, rose, rue, rush, grapes, wheat, vine.
_Cymbeline._ Cedar, violet, cowslip, primrose, daisies, harebell,
eglantine, elder, lily, marybuds, moss, oak, acorn, pine, reed, rushes,
vine.
_Titus Andronicus._ Aspen, briars, cedar, honeystalks, corn, elder,
grass, laurel, lily, moss, mistletoe, nettles, yew.
_Pericles._ Rosemary, bay, roses, cherry, corn, violets, marigolds,
rose, thorns.
_Romeo and Juliet._ Bitter-sweeting, dates, hazel, mandrake, medlar,
nuts, popering pear, pink, plantain, pomegranate, quince, roses,
rosemary, rush, sycamore, thorn, willow, wormwood, yew.
_King Lear._ Apple, balm, burdock, cork, corn, crab, fumiter, hemlock,
harlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, darnel, flax, hawthorn, lily,
marjoram, oak, oats, peascod, rosemary, vines, wheat, samphire.
_Hamlet._ Fennel, columbine, crow-flower, nettles, daisies, long purples
or dead-men's-fingers, flax, grass, hebenon, nut, palm, pansies,
plum-tree, primrose, rose, rosemary, rue, herb of grace, thorns,
violets, wheat, willow, wormwood.
_Othello._ Locusts, coloquintida, figs, nettles, lettuce, hyssop, thyme,
poppy, mandragora, oak, rose, rue, rush, strawberries, sycamore, grapes,
willow.
_Two Noble Kinsmen._ Apricot, bulrush, cedar, plane, cherry, corn,
currant, daffodils, daisies, flax, lark's heels, marigolds, narcissus,
nettles, oak, oxlips, plantain, reed, primrose, rose, thyme, rush.
This I believe to be a complete list of the flowers of Shakespeare
arranged according to the plays, and they are mentioned in one of three
ways--first, adjectively, as "flaxen was his pole," "hawthorn-brake,"
"barley-broth," "thou honeysuckle villain," "onion-eyed,"
"cowslip-cheeks," but the instances of this use by Shakespeare are not
many; second, proverbially or comparatively, as "tremble like aspen,"
"we grew together like to a double cherry seeming parted," "the stinking
elder, grief," "thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine," "not worth a
gooseberry." There are numberless instances of this use of the names of
flowers, fruits, and trees, but neither of these uses give any
indication of the seasons; and in one or other of these ways they are
used (and only in these ways) in the following plays:--_Tempest_, _Two
Gentlemen of Verona_, _Measure for Measure_, _Merchant of Venice_, _As
You Like It_, _Taming of the Shrew_, _Comedy of Errors_, _Macbeth_,
_King John_, _1st Henry IV._, _2nd Henry VI._, _3rd Henry VI._, _Henry
VIII._, _Troilus and Cressida_, _Coriolanus_, _Julius Cæsar_,
_Pericles_, _Othello_. These therefore may be dismissed at once. There
remain the following plays in which indications of the seasons intended
either in the whole play or in the particular act may be traced. In some
cases the traces are exceedingly slight (almost none at all); in others
they are so strongly marked that there is little doubt that Shakespeare
used them of set purpose and carefully:--_Merry Wives_, _Twelfth Night_,
_Much Ado_, _Midsummer Night's Dream_, _Love's Labour's Lost_, _As You
Like It_, _All's Well_, _Winter's Tale_, _Richard II._, _1st Henry IV._,
_Henry V._, _2nd Henry VI._, _Richard III._, _Timon of Athens_, _Antony
and Cleopatra_, _Cymbeline_, _Titus Andronicus_, _Romeo and Juliet_,
_King Lear_, _Hamlet_, and _Two Noble Kinsmen_.
_Merry Wives._ Herne's oak gives the season intended--
"Herne the hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest,
Doth _all the winter time_ at still midnight
Walk round about an oak with ragged horns."
If Shakespeare really meant to place the scene in mid-winter, there may
be a fitness in Mrs. Quickly's looking forward to "a posset at night, at
the latter end of a sea-coal fire," for it was a "raw rheumatick day"
(act iii, sc. 1), in Pistol's--
"Take heed, ere summer comes, or cuckoo birds do sing,"
in Ford's "birding" and "hawking," and in the concluding words--
"Let us every one go home,
And laugh this sport o'er by a country fire" (act v, sc. 5);
but it is not in accordance with the literature of the day to have
fairies dancing at midnight in the depth of winter.
_Twelfth Night._ We know that the whole of this play occupies but a few
days, and is chiefly "matter for a May morning." This gives emphasis to
Olivia's oath, "By the roses of the Spring . . . I love thee so" (act
ii, sc. 4).
_Much Ado._ The season must be summer. There is the sitting out of doors