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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Spenser, F. Q., ii, 10, 46.
[211:2] The name was variously spelt, e.g.β
The Pyany, the Poplar, and the Plane."
The Squyr of Lowe Degre, 39.
Cutwode, Caltha Poetarum, 1599, st. 24.
PIPPIN, see Apple. PLANE. Daughter. I have sent him where a Cedar,
Higher than all the rest, spreads like a Plane
Fast by a brook. Two Noble Kinsmen, act ii, sc. 6 (4).
There is no certain record how long the Plane has been introduced into England; it is certainly not a native tree, nor even an European tree, but came from the East, and was largely planted and much admired both by the Greeks and Romans. We know from Pliny that it was growing in France in his day on the part opposite Britain, and the name occurs in the old vocabularies. But from Turner's evidence in 1548 it must have been a very scarce tree in the sixteenth century. He says: "I never saw any Plaine tree in Englande, saving once in Northumberlande besyde Morpeth, and an other at Barnwell Abbey besyde Cambryge." And more than a hundred years later Evelyn records a special visit to Lee to inspect one as a great curiosity. The Plane is not only a very handsome tree, and a fast grower, but from the fact that it yearly sheds its bark it has become one of the most useful trees for growing in towns. The wood is of very little value. To the emblem writers the Plane was an example of something good to the eye, but of no real use. Camerarius so moralizes it (Pl. xix.), and, quoting Virgil's "steriles platanos," he says of it, "umbram non fructum platanus dat."
PLANTAIN. (1) Costard. O sir, Plantain, a plain Plantain! no l'envoy, no l'envoy; no salve, sir, but a Plantain. * * * * * Moth. By saying that a costard was broken in a shin. Then call'd you for the l'envoy. Costard. True! and I for a Plantain. Loves Labour's Lost, act iii, sc. 1 (76). (2) Romeo. Your Plantain leaf is excellent for that. Benvolio. For what, I pray thee? Romeo. For your broken shin. Romeo and Juliet, act i, sc. 2 (52). (3) Troilus. As true as steel, as Plantage to the moon. Troilus and Cressida, act iii, sc. 2 (184). (4) Palamon. These poore slight soresNeede not a Plantin. Two Noble Kinsmen, act i, sc. 2 (65).
The most common old names for the Plantain were Waybroad (corrupted to Weybread, Wayborn, and Wayforn) and Ribwort. It was also called Lamb's-tongue and Kemps, while the flower spike with the stalk was called Cocks and Cockfighters (still so called by children).[214:1] The old name of Ribwort was derived from the ribbed leaves, while Waybroad marked its universal appearance, scattered by all roadsides and pathways, and literally bred by the wayside. It has a similar name in German, Wegetritt, that is Waytread; and on this account the Swedes name the plant Wagbredblad, and the Indians of North America Whiteman's Foot, for it springs up near every new settlement, having sprung up after the English settlers, not only in America, but also in Australia and New Zealandβ
Swarms the stinging fly, the Ahmo,
Swarms the bee, the honey-maker:
Wheresoe'er they tread, beneath them
Springs a flower unknown among us,
Springs the 'White man's foot' in blossom."
Longfellow's Hiawatha.
And "so it is a mistake to say that Plantain is derived from the likeness of the plant to the sole of the foot, as in Richardson's Dictionary. Rather say, because the herb grows under the sole of the foot."βJohnston. How, or when, or why the plant lost its old English names to take the Latin name of Plantain, it is hard to say. It occurs in a vocabulary of the names of plants of the middle of the thirteenth centuryβ"Plantago, Planteine, Weibrode," and apparently came to us from the French, "Cy est assets de Planteyne, Weybrede."βWalter de Biblesworth (13th cent.) But with the exception of Chaucer[215:1] I believe Shakespeare is almost the only early writer that uses the name, though it is very certain that he did not invent it; but "Plantage" (No 3), which is doubtless the same plant, is peculiar to him.[215:2]
It was as a medical herb that our forefathers chiefly valued the Plantain, and for medical purposes its reputation was of the very highest. In a book of recipes (Lacnunga) of the eleventh century, by Γlfric, is an address to the Waybroad, which is worth extracting at lengthβ
Mother of worts,
Open from eastward,
Mighty within;
Over thee carts creaked,
Over thee Queens rode,
Over thee brides bridalled,
Over thee bulls breathed,
All these thou withstood'st
Venom and vile things
And all the loathly ones
That through the land rove."
Cockayne's Translation.
In another earlier recipe book the Waybroad is prescribed for twenty-two diseases, one after another; and in another of the same date we are taught how to apply it: "If a man ache in half his head . . . delve up Waybroad without iron ere the rising of the sun, bind the roots about the head with Crosswort by a red fillet, soon he will be well." But the Plantain did not long sustain its high reputation, which even in Shakespeare's time had become much diminished. "I find," says Gerard, "in ancient writers many good-morrowes, which I think not meet to bring into your memorie againe; as that three roots will cure one griefe, four another disease, six hanged about the neck are good for another maladie, &c., all which are but ridiculous toys." Yet the bruised leaves still have some reputation as a styptic and healing plaster among country herbalists, and perhaps the alleged virtues are not altogether fanciful.
As a garden plant the Plantain can only be regarded as a weed and nuisance, especially on lawns, where it is very difficult to destroy them. Yet there are some curious varieties which may claim a corner where botanical curiosities are grown. The Plantain seems to have a peculiar tendency to run into abnormal forms, many of which will be found described and figured in Dr. Masters' "Vegetable Teratology," and among these forms are two which are exactly like a double green Rose, and have been cultivated as the Rose Plantain for many years. They were grown by Gerard, who speaks of "the beauty which is in the plant," and compared it to "a fine double Rose of a hoary or rusty greene colour." Parkinson also grew it and valued it highly.
FOOTNOTES:[214:1] Of these names Plantain properly belongs to Plantago major; Lamb's-tongue to P. media; and Kemps, Cocks, and Ribwort to P. lanceolata.
[215:1]
Were ful of Plantayn and peritorie."
Prologue of the Chanoune's Yeman.
[215:2] Nares, and Schmidt from him, consider Plantage = anything planted.
PLUMS, WITH DAMSONS AND PRUNES. (1) Constance. Give grandam kingdom, and it grandam willGive it a Plum, a Cherry, and a Fig. King John, act ii, sc. 1 (161). (2) Hamlet. The satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and Plum-tree gum. Hamlet, act ii, sc. 2 (198). (3) Simpcox. A fall off a tree. Wife. A Plum-tree, master. * * * * * Gloucester. Mass, thou lovedst Plums well that wouldst venture so. Simpcox. Alas! good master, my wife desired some Damsons,
And made me climb with danger of my life. 2nd Henry VI, act ii, sc. 1 (196). (4) Evans. I will dance and eat Plums at your wedding. Merry Wives of Windsor, act v, sc. 5.[217:1] (5) The mellow Plum doth fall, the green sticks fast,
Or, being early pluck'd, is sour to taste. Venus and Adonis (527). (6) Like a green Plum that hangs upon a tree,
And falls, through wind, before the fall should be. Passionate Pilgrim (135). (7) Slender. Three veneys for a dish of stewed Prunes. Merry Wives of Windsor, act i, sc. 1 (295). (8) Falstaff. There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed Prune. 1st Henry IV, act iii, sc. 3 (127). (9) Pompey. Longing (saving your honour's presence) for stewed Prunes. * * * * * And longing, as I said, for Prunes. * * * * * You being then, if you he remembered, cracking the stones of the foresaid Prunes. Measure for Measure, act ii, sc. 1 (92). (10) Clown. Four pounds of Prunes, and as many of Raisins of the sun. Winters Tale, act iv, sc. 3 (51). (11) Falstaff. Hang him, rogue; he lives upon mouldy stewed Prunes and dried cakes. 2nd Henry IV, act ii, sc. 4 (158).
Plums, Damsons, and Prunes may conveniently be joined together, Plums and Damsons being often used synonymously (as in No. 3), and Prunes being the dried Plums. The Damsons were originally, no doubt, a good variety from the East, and nominally from Damascus.[217:2] They seem to have been considered great delicacies, as in a curious allegorical drama of the fifteenth century, called "La Nef de Sante," of which an account is given by Mr. Wright: "Bonne-Compagnie, to begin the day, orders a collation, at which, among other things, are served Damsons (Prunes de Damas), which appear at this time to have been considered as delicacies. There is here a marginal direction to the purport that if the morality should be performed in the season when real Damsons could not be had, the performers must have some made of wax to look like real ones" ("History of Domestic Manners," &c.).
The garden Plums are a good cultivated variety of our own wild Sloe, but a variety that did not originate in England, and may very probably have been introduced by the Romans. The Sloe and Bullace are, speaking botanically, two sub-species of Prunus communis, while the Plum is a third sub-species (P. communis domestica). The garden Plum is occasionally found wild in England, but is certainly not indigenous. It is somewhat strange that our wild plant is not mentioned by Shakespeare under any of its well-known names of Sloe, Bullace, and Blackthorn. Not only is it a shrub of very marked appearance in our hedgerows in early spring, when it is covered with its pure white blossoms, but Blackthorn staves were indispensable in the rough game of quarterstaff, and the Sloe gave point to more than one English proverb: "as black as a Sloe," was a very common comparison, and "as useless as a Sloe," or "not worth a Sloe," was as common.
I give thee thereof not one Sloe!
Do right all that thou may!"
Amys and AmylionβEllis's Romances.
Be God, that me der bowthe,
Het ys not worthe a Sclo."
The Frere and
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