The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
cultivated, but the result has not been very satisfactory, except on
very poor land, though, according to the Woburn experiments, as reported
by Sinclair, it contains a larger amount of nutritive matter in the
spring than most of the Grasses. It has brown flowers, from which it is
supposed to derive its name (Brunetto).[45:1]
FOOTNOTES:
[44:1]
"A Clote-leef he had under his hood
For swoot, and to keep his heed from hete."
CHAUCER, _Prologue of the Chanounes Yeman_ (25).
This Clote leaf is by many considered to be the Burdock leaf, but it was
more probably the name of the Water-lily.
[45:1] "Burnet colowre, Burnetum, burnetus."--_Promptorium Parvulorum._
CABBAGE.
_Evans._
_Pauca verba_, Sir John; good worts.
_Falstaff._
Good worts! good Cabbage.
_Merry Wives_, act i, sc. 1 (123).
The history of the name is rather curious. It comes to us from the
French _Chou cabus_, which is the French corruption of _Caulis
capitatus_, the name by which Pliny described it.
The Cabbage of Shakespeare's time was essentially the same as ours, and
from the contemporary accounts it seems that the sorts cultivated were
as good and as numerous as they are now. The cultivated Cabbage is the
same specifically as the wild Cabbage of our sea-shores (_Brassica
oleracea_) improved by cultivation. Within the last few years the
Cabbage has been brought from the kitchen garden into the flower garden
on account of the beautiful variegation of its leaves. This, however, is
no novelty, for Parkinson said of the many sorts of Cabbage in his day:
"There is greater diversity in the form and colour of the leaves of
this plant than there is in any other that I know groweth on the
ground. . . . Many of them being of no use with us for the table, but
for delight to behold the wonderful variety of the works of God herein."
CAMOMILE.
_Falstaff._
Though the Camomile, the more it is trodden on the faster it
grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears.
_1st Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 4 (443).
The low-growing Camomile, the emblem of the sweetness of humility, has
the lofty names of Camomile (_Chamæmelum_, _i.e._, Apple of the Earth)
and Anthemis nobilis. Its fine aromatic scent and bitter flavour
suggested that it must be possessed of much medicinal virtue, while its
low growth made it suitable for planting on the edges of flower-beds and
paths, its scent being brought out as it was walked upon. For this
purpose it was much used in Elizabethan gardens; "large walks, broad and
long, close and open, like the Tempe groves in Thessaly, raised with
gravel and sand, having seats and banks of Camomile; all this delights
the mind, and brings health to the body."[46:1] As a garden flower it is
now little used, though its bright starry flower and fine scent might
recommend it; but it is still to be found in herb gardens, and is still,
though not so much as formerly, used as a medicine.
Like many other low plants, the Camomile is improved by being pressed
into the earth by rolling or otherwise, and there are many allusions to
this in the old writers: thus Lily in his "Euphues" says: "The Camomile
the more it is trodden and pressed down, the more it spreadeth;" and in
the play, "The More the Merrier" (1608), we have--
"The Camomile shall teach thee patience
Which riseth best when trodden most upon."
FOOTNOTES:
[46:1] Lawson, "New Orchard," p. 54.
CARDUUS, _see_ HOLY THISTLE.
CARNATIONS.
(1) _Perdita._
The fairest flowers o' the season
Are our Carnations and streak'd Gillyvors,
Which some call Nature's bastards.
_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 4 (81).
(2) _Polyxenes._
Then make your garden rich in Gillyvors,
And do not call them bastards.
_Ibid._ (98).
There are two other places in which Carnation is mentioned, but they
refer to carnation colour--_i.e._, to pure flesh colour.
(3) _Quickly._
'A could never abide Carnation; 'twas a colour he never liked.
_Henry V_, act ii, sc. 3 (35).
(4) _Costard._
Pray you, sir, how much Carnation riband may a man buy for a
remuneration?
_Love's Labour's Lost_, act iii, sc. 1 (146).
Dr. Johnson and others have supposed that the flower is so named from
the colour, but that this is a mistake is made very clear by Dr. Prior.
He quotes Spenser's "Shepherd's Calendar"--
"Bring Coronations and Sops-in-Wine
Worn of Paramours."
and so it is spelled in Lyte's "Herbal," 1578, coronations or
cornations. This takes us at once to the origin of the name. The plant
was one of those used in garlands (_coronæ_), and was probably one of
the most favourite plants used for that purpose, for which it was well
suited by its shape and beauty. Pliny gives a long list of garland
flowers (_Coronamentorum genera_) used by the Romans and Athenians, and
Nicander gives similar lists of Greek garland plants (+stephanômatika
anthê+), in which the Carnation holds so high a place that it was called
by the name it still has--Dianthus, or Flower of Jove.
Its second specific name, Caryophyllus--_i.e._, Nut-leaved--seems at
first very inappropriate for a grassy leaved plant, but the name was
first given to the Indian Clove-tree, and from it transferred to the
Carnation, on account of its fine clove-like scent. Its popularity as an
English plant is shown by its many names--Pink, Carnation,
Gilliflower[48:1] (an easily-traced and well-ascertained corruption from
Caryophyllus), Clove, Picotee,[48:2] and Sops-in-Wine, from the flowers
being used to flavour wine and beer.[48:3] There is an historical
interest also in the flowers. All our Carnations, Picotees, and Cloves
come originally from the single Dianthus caryophyllus; this is not a
true British plant, but it holds a place in the English flora, being
naturalized on Rochester and other castles. It is abundant in Normandy,
and I found it (in 1874) covering the old castle of Falaise in which
William the Conqueror was born. Since that I have found that it grows on
the old castles of Dover, Deal, and Cardiff, all of them of Norman
construction, as was Rochester, which was built by Gundulf, the special
friend of William. Its occurrence on these several Norman castles make
it very possible that it was introduced by the Norman builders, perhaps
as a pleasant memory of their Norman homes, though it may have been
accidentally introduced with the Normandy (Caen) stone, of which parts
of the castles are built. How soon it became a florist's flower we do
not know, but it must have been early, as in Shakespeare's time the
sorts of Cloves, Carnations, and Pinks were so many that Gerard says: "A
great and large volume would not suffice to write of every one at large
in particular, considering how infinite they are, and how every yeare,
every clymate and countrey, bringeth forth new sorts, and such as have
not heretofore bin written of;" and so we may certainly say now--the
description of the many kinds of Carnations and Picotees, with
directions for their culture, would fill a volume.
FOOTNOTES:
[48:1] This is the more modern way of spelling it. In the first folio it
is "Gillyvor." "Chaucer writes it Gylofre, but by associating it with
the the Nutmeg and other spices, appears to mean the Clove Tree, which
is, in fact, the proper signification."--_Flora Domestica._ In the
"Digby Mysteries" (Mary Magdalene, l. 1363) the Virgin Mary is addressed
as "the Jentyll Jelopher."
[48:2] Picotee is from the French word _picoté_ marked with little
pricks round the edge, like the "picots," on lace, _picot_ being the
technical term in France for the small twirls which in England are
called "purl" or "pearl."
[48:3] Wine thus flavoured was evidently a very favourite beverage.
"Bartholemeus Peytevyn tenet duas Caracutas terræ in Stony-Aston in Com.
Somerset de Domino Rege in capite per servitium unius[48:a] Sextarii
vini Gariophilati reddendi Domino Regi per annum ad Natale Domini. Et
valet dicta terra per ann. _xl._"
[48:a] "A Sextary of July-flower wine, and a Sextary contained
about a pint and a half, sometimes more."--BLOUNT'S _Antient
Tenures_.
CARRAWAYS.
_Shallow._
Nay, you shall see my orchard, where, in an arbour we will eat
a last year's Pippin of my own graffing, with a dish of
Caraways and so forth.
_2nd Henry IV_, act v, sc. 3 (1).
Carraways are the fruit of Carum carui, an umbelliferous plant of a
large geographical range, cultivated in the eastern counties, and
apparently wild in other parts of England, but not considered a true
native. In Shakespeare's time the seed was very popular, and was much
more freely used than in our day. "The seed," says Parkinson, "is much
used to be put among baked fruit, or into bread, cakes, &c., to give
them a rellish. It is also made into comfits and put into Trageas or (as
we call them in English) Dredges, that are taken for cold or wind in the
body, as also are served to the table with fruit."
Carraways are frequently mentioned in the old writers as an
accompaniment to Apples. In a very interesting bill of fare of 1626,
extracted from the account book of Sir Edward Dering, is the following--
"Carowaye and comfites, 6d.
A Warden py that the cooke
Made--we fining y{e} Wardens. 2s. 4d.
Second Course.
A cold Warden pie.
Complement.
Apples and Carrawayes."--_Notes and Queries_, i, 99.
So in Russell's "Book of Nurture:" "After mete . . . pepyns Careaway in
comfyte," line 78, and the same in line 714; and in Wynkyn de Worde's
"Boke of Kervynge" ("Babee's Book," p. 266 and 271), and in F. Seager's
"Schoole of Vertue" ("Babee's Book," p. 343)--
"Then cheese with fruite On the table set,
With Bisketes or Carowayes As you may get."
The custom of serving roast Apples with a little saucerful of Carraway
is still kept up at Trinity College, Cambridge, and, I believe, at some
of the London Livery dinners.
CARROT.
_Evans._
Remember, William, focative is _caret_,
_Quickly._
And that's a good root.
_Merry Wives_, act iv, sc. 1 (55).
Dame Quickly's pun gives us our Carrot, a plant which, originally
derived from our wild Carrot (_Daucus Carota_), was introduced as a
useful vegetable by the Flemings in the time of Elizabeth, and has
probably been very little altered or improved since the time of its
introduction. In Shakespeare's time the name was applied to the "Yellow
Carrot" or Parsnep, as well as to the Red one. The name of Carrot comes
directly from its Latin or rather Greek name, Daucus Carota, but it
once had a prettier name. The Anglo-Saxons called it "bird's-nest," and
Gerard gives us the reason, and it is a reason that shows they were more
observant of the habits of plants than we generally give them credit
for: "The whole tuft (of flowers) is drawn together when the seed is
ripe, resembling a bird's nest; whereupon it hath been named of some
Bird's-nest."
CEDAR.
(1) _Prospero._
And by the spurs pluck'd up
The Pine and Cedar.
_Tempest_, act v, sc. 1 (47).
(2) _Dumain._
As upright as the Cedar.
_Love's Labour's Lost_, act iv, sc. 3 (89).
(3) _Warwick._
As on a mountain top the Cedar shows,