The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
especially valued, not only for its rich evergreen colour, but because,
with the Yew, it could be cut and tortured into all the ungainly shapes
which so delighted our ancestors in Shakespeare's time, though one of
the most illustrious of them, Lord Bacon, entered his protest against
such barbarisms: "I, for my part, do not like images cut out in Juniper
or other garden stuff; they be for children" ("Essay of Gardens").
The chief use of the Box now is for blocks for wood-carving, for which
its close grain makes it the most suitable of all woods.[39:2]
FOOTNOTES:
[39:1] In Boxford, and perhaps in some of the other names, the word has
no connection with the tree, but marks the presence of water or a
stream.
[39:2] In some parts of Europe almost a sacred character is given to the
Box. For a curious record of blessing the Box, and of a sermon on the
lessons taught by the Box, see "Gardener's Chronicle," April 19, 1873.
BRAMBLE, _see_ BLACKBERRIES.
BRIER.
(1) _Ariel._
So I charm'd their ears,
That calf-like they my lowing follow'd through
Tooth'd Briers, sharp Furzes, pricking Goss, and Thorns.
_Tempest_, act iv, sc. 1 (178).
(2) _Fairy._
Over hill, over dale,
Thorough Bush, thorough Brier.
_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act ii, sc. 1 (2).
(3) _Thisbe._
Of colour like the red Rose on triumphant Brier.
_Ibid._, act iii, sc. 1 (90).
(4) _Puck._
I'll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through Brake, through Brier.
_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iii, sc. 1 (10).
(5) _Puck._
For Briers and Thorns at their apparel snatch.
_Ibid._, act iii, sc. 2 (29).
(6) _Hermia._
Never so weary, never so in woe,
Bedabbled with the dew and torn with Briers.
_Ibid._, act iii, sc. 2 (443).
(7) _Oberon._
Every elf and fairy sprite
Hop as light as bird from Brier.
_Ibid._, act v, sc. 1 (400).
(8) _Adriana._
If aught possess thee from me, it is dross,
Usurping Ivy, Brier, or idle Moss.
_Comedy of Errors_, act ii, sc. 2 (179).
(9) _Plantagenet._
From off this Brier pluck a white Rose with me.
_1st Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 4 (30).
(10) _Rosalind._
O! how full of Briers is this working-day world!
_As You Like It_, act i, sc. 3 (12).
(11) _Helena._
The time will bring on summer,
When Briers shall have leaves as well as Thorns,
And be as sweet as sharp.
_All's Well_, act iv, sc. 4 (32).
(12) _Polyxenes._
I'll have thy beauty scratched with Briers.
_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 4 (436).
(13) _Timon._
The Oaks bear mast, the Briers scarlet hips.
_Timon of Athens_, act iv, sc. 3 (422).
(14) _Coriolanus._
Scratches with Briers,
Scars to move laughter only.
_Coriolanus_, act iii, sc. 3 (51).
(15) _Quintus._
What subtle hole is this,
Whose mouth is cover'd with rude-growing Briers?
_Titus Andronicus_, act iii, sc. 3 (198).
In Shakespeare's time the "Brier" was not restricted to the Sweet Briar,
as it usually is now; but it meant any sort of wild Rose, and even it
would seem from No. 9 that it was applied to the cultivated Rose, for
there the scene is laid in the Temple Gardens. In some of the passages
it probably does not allude to any Rose, but simply to any wild thorny
plant. That this was its common use then, we know from many examples. In
"Le Morte Arthur," the Earl of Ascolot's daughter is described--
"Hyr Rode was rede as blossom or Brere
Or floure that springith in the felde" (179).
And in "A Pleasant New Court Song," in the Roxburghe Ballads--
"I stept me close aside
Under a Hawthorn Bryer."
It bears the same meaning in our Bibles, where "Thorns," "Brambles," and
"Briers," stand for any thorny and useless plant, the soil of Palestine
being especially productive of thorny plants of many kinds. Wickliffe's
translation of Matthew vii. 16, is--"Whether men gaderen grapis of
thornes; or figis of Breris?" and Tyndale's translation is much the
same--"Do men gaddre grapes of thornes, or figges of Bryeres?"[41:1]
FOOTNOTES:
[41:1] "Brere--Carduus, tribulus, vepres, veprecula."--_Catholicon
Anglicum._
BROOM.
(1) _Iris._
And thy Broom groves,
Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,
Being lass-lorn.
_Tempest_, act iv, sc. 1 (66).
(2) _Puck._
I am sent with Broom before
To sweep the dust behind the door.
_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act v, sc. 1 (396).
(3) _Man._
I made good my place; at length they came to the Broomstaff
with me.
_Henry VIII_, act v, sc. 4 (56).
The Broom was one of the most popular plants of the Middle Ages. Its
modern Latin name is _Cytisus scoparius_, but under its then Latin name
of _Planta genista_ it gave its name to the Plantagenet family, either
in the time of Henry II., as generally reported, or probably still
earlier. As the favourite badge of the family it appears on their
monuments and portraits, and was embroidered on their clothes and
imitated in their jewels. Nor was it only in England that the plant was
held in such high favour; it was the special flower of the Scotch, and
it was highly esteemed in many countries on the Continent, especially in
Brittany. Yet, in spite of all this, there are only these three notices
of the plant in Shakespeare, and of those three, two (2 and 3) refer to
its uses when dead; and the third (1), though it speaks of it as living,
yet has nothing to say of the remarkable beauties of this favourite
British flower. Yet it has great beauties which cannot easily be
overlooked. Its large, yellow flowers, its graceful habit of growth, and
its fragrance--
"Sweet is the Broome-flowre, but yet sowre enough"--
SPENSER, _Sonnet_ xxvi.
at once arrest the attention of the most careless observer of Nature. We
are almost driven to the conclusion that Shakespeare could not have had
much real acquaintance with the Broom, or he would not have sent his
"dismissed bachelor" to "Broom-groves."[42:1] I should very much doubt
that the Broom could ever attain to the dimensions of a grove, though
Steevens has a note on the passage that "near Gamlingay, in
Cambridgeshire, it grows high enough to conceal the tallest cattle as
they pass through it; and in places where it is cultivated still
higher." Chaucer speaks of the Broom, but does not make it so much of a
tree--
"Amid the Broom he basked in the sun."
And other poets have spoken of the Broom in the same way--thus Collins--
"When Dan Sol to slope his wheels began
Amid the Broom he basked him on the ground."
_Castle of Indolence_, canto i.
And a Russian poet speaks of the Broom as a tree--
"See there upon the Broom tree's bough
The young grey eagle flapping now."
_Flora Domestica_, p. 68.
As a garden plant it is perhaps seen to best advantage when mixed with
other shrubs, as when grown quite by itself it often has an untidy look.
There is a pure white variety which is very beautiful, but it is very
liable to flower so abundantly as to flower itself to death. There are a
few other sorts, but none more beautiful than the British.
FOOTNOTES:
[42:1] Yet Bromsgrove must be a corruption of Broom-grove, and there are
other places in England named from the Broom.
BULRUSH.
_Wooer._
Her careless tresses
A wreake of Bulrush rounded.
_Two Noble Kinsmen_, act iv, sc. 1 (104).
_See_ RUSH, p. 262.
BURDOCK AND BURS.
(1) _Celia._
They are but Burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday
foolery; if we walk not in the trodden paths our very
petticoats will catch them.
_Rosalind._
I could shake them off my coat; these Burs are in my heart.
_As You Like It_, act i, sc. 3 (13).
(2) _Lucio._
Nay, friar, I am a kind of Bur; I shall stick.
_Measure for Measure_, act iv, sc. 3 (149).
(3) _Lysander._
Hang oft, thou cat, thou Burr.
_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iii, sc. 2 (260).
(4) _Pandarus._
They are Burs, I can tell you; they'll stick where
they are thrown.
_Troilus and Cressida_, act iii, sc. 2 (118).
(5) _Burgundy._
And nothing teems
But hateful Docks, rough Thistles, Kecksies, Burs.
_Henry V_, act v, sc. 2 (51).
(6) _Cordelia._
Crown'd with rank Fumiter and Furrow-weeds,
With Burdocks, Hemlock, Nettles, Cuckoo-flowers.
_King Lear_, act iv, sc. 4 (3).
The Burs are the unopened flowers of the Burdock (_Arctium lappa_), and
their clinging quality very early obtained for them expressive names,
such as _amor folia_, love leaves, and philantropium. This clinging
quality arises from the bracts of the involucrum being long and stiff,
and with hooked tips which attach themselves to every passing object.
The Burdock is a very handsome plant when seen in its native habitat by
the side of a brook, its broad leaves being most picturesque, but it is
not a plant to introduce into a garden.[44:1] There is another tribe of
plants, however, which are sufficiently ornamental to merit a place in
the garden, and whose Burs are even more clinging than those of the
Burdock. These are the Acænas; they are mostly natives of America and
New Zealand, and some of them (especially A. sarmentosa and A.
microphylla) form excellent carpet plants, but their points being
furnished with double hooks, like a double-barbed arrow, they have
double powers of clinging.
BURNET.
_Burgundy._
The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
The freckled Cowslip, Burnet, and green Clover.
_Henry V._ act v, sc. 2 (48).
The Burnet (_Poterium sanguisorba_) is a native plant of no great beauty
or horticultural interest, but it was valued as a good salad plant, the
leaves tasting of Cucumber, and Lord Bacon (contemporary with
Shakespeare) seems to have been especially fond of it. He says ("Essay
of Gardens"):
"Those flowers which perfume the air most delightfully, not passed by
as the rest, but being trodden upon and crushed, are three--that is,
Burnet, Wild Thyme, and Water Mints; therefore you are to set whole
alleys of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread." Drayton
had the same affection for it--
"The Burnet shall bear up with this,
Whose leaf I greatly fancy."
_Nymphal V._
It also was, and still is, valued as a forage plant that will grow and
keep fresh all the winter in dry barren pastures, thus often giving food
for sheep when other food was scarce. It has occasionally been