The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespear by Henry Nicholson Ellacombe (top romance novels .TXT) π
[4:1] Perhaps the most noteworthy plant omitted is Tobacco--Shakespeare must have been well acquainted with it, not only as every one in his day knew of it, but as a friend and companion of Ben Jonson, he must often have been in the company of smokers. Ben Jonson has frequent allusions to it, and almost all the sixteenth-century writers have something to say about it; but Shakespeare never names the herb, or alludes to it in any way whatever.
[4:2] It seems probable that the Lily of the Valley was not recognized as a British plant in Shakespeare's time, and was very little grown even in gardens. Turner says, "Ephemer[=u] is called in duch meyblumle, in french Muguet. It groweth plentuously in Germany, but not in England that ever I coulde see, savinge in my Lordes gardine at Syon. The Poticaries in Germany do name it Lilium C[=o]vallium, it may be called in englishe May Lilies."--Names of Herbes, 1548. Coghan in 1596 says much the same: "I say nothing of them
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Thy sheep be in the Corn. King Lear, act iii, sc. 6 (43). (13) Cordelia. All the idle weeds that grow
In our sustaining Corn. Ibid., act iv, sc. 4 (6). (14) Demetrius. First thrash the Corn, then after burn the straw. Titus Andronicus, act ii, sc. 3 (123). (15) Marcus. O, let me teach you how to knit again
This scattered Corn into one mutual sheaf. Ibid., act v, sc. 3 (70). (16) Pericles. Our ships are stored with Corn to make your needy bread. Pericles, act i, sc. 4 (95). (17) Cleon. Your grace that fed my country with your Corn. Ibid., act iii, sc. 3 (18). (18) Menenius. For Corn at their own rates. Coriolanus, act i, sc. 1 (193). Marcus. The gods sent not Corn for the rich men only. Ibid. (211). Marcus. The Volsces have much Corn. Ibid. (253). Citizen. We stood up about the Corn. Ibid., act ii, sc. 3 (16). Brutus. Corn was given them gratis. Ibid., act iii, sc. 1 (43). Coriolanus. Tell me of Corn! Ibid. (61). The Corn of the storehouse gratis. Ibid. (125). The Corn was not our recompense. Ibid. (120). This kind of service
Did not deserve Corn gratis. Coriolanus, act iii, sc. 1 (124). (19) Cranmer. I am right glad to catch this good occasion
Most thoroughly to be winnow'd, where my chaff
And Corn shall fly asunder. Henry VIII, act v, sc. 1 (110). (20) Cranmer. Her foes shake like a field of beaten Corn
And hang their heads with sorrow. Ibid., act v, sc. 4 (32). (21) K. Richard. We'll make foul weather with despised tears;
Our sighs and they shall lodge the summer Corn. Richard II, act iii, sc. 3 (161). (22) Arcite. And run
Swifter then winde upon a field of Corne
(Curling the wealthy eares) never flew. Two Noble Kinsmen, act ii, sc. 3 (91). (23) As Corn o'ergrown by weeds, so heedful fear
Is almost choked by unresisted lust. Lucrece (281).
I have made these quotations as short as possible. They could not be omitted, but they require no comment.
COWSLIP. (1) Burgundy. The even mead that erst brought sweetly forthThe freckled Cowslip, Burnet, and green Clover. Henry V, act v, sc. 2 (48). (2) Queen. The Violets, Cowslips, and the Primroses,
Bear to my closet. Cymbeline, act i, sc. 5 (83). (3) Iachimo. On her left breast
A mole, cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops
I' the bottom of a Cowslip. Ibid., act ii, sc. 2 (37). (4) Ariel. Where the bee sucks there suck I,
In a Cowslip's bell I lie. Tempest, act v, sc. 1 (88). (5) Thisbe. Those yellow Cowslip cheeks. Midsummer Night's Dream, act v, sc. 1 (339). (6) Fairy. The Cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours;
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every Cowslip's ear. Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii, sc. 1 (10).[65:1]
"Cowslips! how the children love them, and go out into the fields on the sunny April mornings to collect them in their little baskets, and then come home and pick the pips to make sweet unintoxicating wine, preserving at the same time untouched a bunch of the goodliest flowers as a harvest-sheaf of beauty! and then the white soft husks are gathered into balls and tossed from hand to hand till they drop to pieces, to be trodden upon and forgotten. And so at last, when each sense has had its fill of the flower, and they are thoroughly tired of their play, the children rest from their celebration of the Cowslip. Blessed are such flowers that appeal to every sense." So wrote Dr. Forbes Watson in his very pretty and Ruskinesque little work "Flowers and Gardens," and the passage well expresses one of the chief charms of the Cowslip. It is the most favourite wild flower with children. It must have been also a favourite with Shakespeare, for his descriptions show that he had studied it with affection. The minute description in (6) should be noticed. The upright golden Cowslip is compared to one of Queen Elizabeth's Pensioners, who were splendidly dressed, and are frequently noticed in the literature of the day. With Mrs. Quickly they were the ne plus ultra of grandeurβ"And yet there has been earls, nay, which is more, pensioners" ("Merry Wives," act ii, sc. 2). Milton, too, sings in its praiseβ
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowering May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow Cowslip and the pale Primrose."
Song on May Morning.
Then I set my printless feet
O'er the Cowslip's velvet head
That bends not as I tread."
Sabrina's Song in Comus.
But in "Lycidas" he associates it with more melancholy ideasβ
And every flower that sad embroidery wears."
This association of sadness with the Cowslip is copied by Mrs. Hemans, who speaks of "Pale Cowslips, meet for maiden's early bier;" but these are exceptions. All the other poets who have written of the Cowslip (and they are very numerous) tell of its joyousness, and brightness, and tender beauty, and its "bland, yet luscious, meadow-breathing scent."
The names of the plant are a puzzle; botanically it is a Primrose, but it is never so called. It has many names, but its most common are Paigle and Cowslip. Paigle has never been satisfactorily explained, nor has Cowslip. Our great etymologists, Cockayne and Dr. Prior and Wedgwood, are all at variance on the name; and Dr. Prior assures us that it has nothing to do with either "cows" or "lips," though the derivation, if untrue, is at least as old as Ben Jonson, who speaks of "Bright Dayes-eyes and the lips of Cowes." But we all believe it has, and, without inquiring too closely into the etymology, we connect the flower with the rich pastures and meadows of which it forms so pretty a spring ornament, while its fine scent recalls the sweet breath of the cowβ"just such a sweet, healthy odour is what we find in cows; an odour which breathes around them as they sit at rest on the pasture, and is believed by many, perhaps with truth, to be actually curative of disease" (Forbes Watson).
Botanically, the Cowslip is a very interesting plant. In all essential points the Primrose, Cowslip, and Oxlip are identical; the Primrose, however, choosing woods and copses and the shelter of the hedgerows, the Cowslip choosing the open meadows, while the Oxlip is found in either. The garden "Polyanthus of unnumbered dyes" (Thomson's "Seasons:" Spring) is only another form produced by cultivation, and is one of the most favourite plants in cottage gardens. It may, however, well be grown in gardens of more pretension; it is neat in growth, handsome in flower, of endless variety, and easy cultivation. There are also many varieties of the Cowslip, of different colours, double and single, which are very useful in the spring garden.
FOOTNOTES:[65:1]Drayton also allotted the Cowslip as the special Fairies' flowerβ
(Quoth he) is that tall Cowslip flower."βNymphidia.
CRABS, see Apple. CROCUS, see Saffron. CROW-FLOWERS. Queen. There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of Crow-flowers, Nettles, Daisies, and Long Purples. Hamlet, act iv, sc. 7 (169).
The Crow-flower is now the Buttercup,[67:1] but in Shakespeare's time it was applied to the Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi), and I should think that this was the flower that poor Ophelia wove into her garland. Gerard says, "They are not used either in medicine or in nourishment; but they serve for garlands and crowns, and to deck up gardens." We do not now use the Ragged Robin for the decking of our gardens, not that we despise it, for it is a flower that all admire in the hedgerows, but because we have other members of the same family as easy to grow and more handsome, such as the double variety of the wild plant, L. Chalcedonica, L. Lagascæ, L. fulgens, L. Haagena, &c. In Shakespeare's time the name was also given to the Wild Hyacinth, which is so named by Turner and Lyte; but this could scarcely have been the flower of Ophelia's garland, which was composed of the flowers of early summer, and not of spring. (See Appendix, p. 388.)
FOOTNOTES:[67:1] In Scotland the Wild Hyacinth is still called the Crow-flowerβ
Decks Gleniffer's dewy dell,
Blooming like thy bonny sel,
My young, my artless dearie, O."
Tannahill, Gloomy Winter.
CROWN IMPERIAL. Perdita. Bold Oxlips, andThe Crown Imperial. Winter's Tale, act iv, sc. 4 (125).
The Crown Imperial is a Fritillary (F. imperialis). It is a native of Persia, Afghanistan, and Cashmere, but it was very early introduced into England from Constantinople, and at once became a favourite. Chapman, in 1595, spoke of it asβ
Ovid's Banquet of Sense.
Gerard had it plentifully in his garden, and Parkinson gave it the foremost place in his "Paradisus Terrestris." "The Crown Imperial," he says, "for its stately beautifulnesse deserveth the first place in this our garden of delight, to be here entreated of before all other Lillies." George Herbert evidently admired it muchβ
A gallant flower,
The Crown Imperial."
Peace (13).
And if not in Shakespeare's time, yet certainly very soon after, there were as many varieties as there are now. The plant, as a florist's flower, has stood still in a very remarkable way. Though it is apparently a plant that invites the attention of the hybridizing gardener, yet we still have but the two colours, the red and the yellow (a pure white would be a great acquisition), with single and double flowers, flowers in tiers, and with variegated leaves. And all these varieties have existed for more than two hundred years.
As a stately garden plant it should be in every garden. It flowers early, and then dies down. But it should be planted rather in the background, as the whole plant has an evil smell, especially in sunshine. Yet it should have a close attention, if only to study and admire the beautiful interior of the flower. I know of no other flower that is similarly formed, and it cannot be better described than in Gerard's words: "In the bottome of each of the bells there is placed six drops of most cleere shining sweet water, in taste like sugar, resembling in shew faire Orient pearles, the which drops if you take away, there do immediately appeare the like; notwithstanding, if they may be suffered
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