The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespear by Henry Nicholson Ellacombe (top 20 books to read txt) 📖
- Author: Henry Nicholson Ellacombe
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[56:1] "But then 'tis as full of drollery as ever it can hold; 'tis like an orange stuck with Cloves as for conceipt."—The Rehearsal, 1671, act iii, sc. 1.
COCKLE. (1) Biron. Allons! allons! sowed Cockle reap'd no Corn. Love's Labour's Lost, act iv, sc. 3 (383). (2) Coriolanus. We nourish 'gainst our senateThe Cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition,
Which we ourselves have plough'd for, sow'd, and scatter'd,
By mingling them with us. Coriolanus, act iii, sc. 1 (69).
In Shakespeare's time the word "Cockle" was becoming restricted to the Corn-cockle (Lychnis githago), but both in his time, and certainly in that of the writers before him, it was used generally for any noxious weed that grew in corn-fields, and was usually connected with the Darnel and Tares.[57:1] So Gower—
So that the tilthe is nigh forlorn,
Which Crist sew first his owne hond—
Now stant the Cockel in the lond
Where stood whilom the gode greine,
For the prelats now, as men sain,
For slouthen that they shoulden tille."
Confessio Amantis, lib. quintus (2-190, Paulli).
Latimer has exactly the same idea: "Oh, that our prelates would bee as diligent to sowe the corne of goode doctrine as Sathan is to sow Cockel and Darnel." . . . "There was never such a preacher in England as he (the devil) is. Who is able to tel his dylygent preaching? which every daye and every houre laboreth to sowe Cockel and Darnel" (Latimer's Fourth Sermon). And to the same effect Spenser—
Nought reaped but a weedie crop of care,
Which when I thought have thresht in swelling sheave,
Cockle for corn, and chaff for barley bare."
The Cockle or Campion is said to do mischief among the Wheat, not only, as the Poppy and other weeds, by occupying room meant for the better plant, but because the seed gets mixed with the corn, and then "what hurt it doth among corne, the spoyle unto bread, as well in colour, taste, and unwholsomness is better known than desired." So says Gerard, but I do not know how far modern experience confirms him. It is a pity the plant has so bad a character, for it is a very handsome weed, with a fine blue flower, and the seeds are very curious objects under the microscope, being described as exactly like a hedgehog rolled up.[58:1]
FOOTNOTES:[57:1] "Cokylle—quædam aborigo, zazannia."—Catholicon Anglicum.
[58:1] In Dorsetshire the Cockle is the bur of the Burdock. Barnes' Glossary of Dorset.
COLOQUINTIDA. Iago. The food that to him now is as luscious as Locusts, shall be to him shortly as bitter as Coloquintida. Othello, act i, sc. 3 (354).The Coloquintida, or Colocynth, is the dried fleshy part of the fruit of the Cucumis or Citrullus colocynthis. As a drug it was imported in Shakespeare's time and long before, but he may also have known the plant. Gerard seems to have grown it, though from his describing it as a native of the sandy shores of the Mediterranean, he perhaps confused it with the Squirting Cucumber (Momordica elaterium). It is a native of Turkey, but has been found also in Japan. It is also found in the East, and we read of it in the history of Elisha: "One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild Vine, and gathered thereof wild Gourds, his lap full."[59:1] It is not quite certain what species of Gourd is here meant, but all the old commentators considered it to be the Colocynth,[59:2] the word "vine" meaning any climbing plant, a meaning that is still in common use in America.
All the tribe of Cucumbers are handsome foliaged plants, but they require room. On the Continent they are much more frequently grown in gardens than in England, but the hardy perennial Cucumber (Cucumis perennis) makes a very handsome carpet where the space can be spared, and the Squirting Cucumber (also hardy and perennial) is worth growing for its curious fruit. (See also Pumpion.)
FOOTNOTES:[59:1] 2 Kings iv. 39.
[59:2] "Invenitque quasi vitem sylvestrem, et collegit ex ea Colocynthidas agri."—Vulgate.
COLUMBINE. (1) Armado. I am that flower, Dumain. That Mint. Longaville. That Columbine. Love's Labour's Lost, act v, sc. 2 (661). (2) Ophelia. There's Fennel for you and Columbines. Hamlet, act iv, sc. 5 (189).This brings us to one of the most favourite of our old-fashioned English flowers. It is very doubtful whether it is a true native, but from early times it has been "carefully nursed up in our gardens for the delight both of its forme and colours" (Parkinson); yet it had a bad character, as we see from two passages quoted by Steevens—
No! that thankless flower grows not in my garden."
All Fools, by Chapman, 1605.
and again in the 15th Song of Drayton's "Polyolbion"—
"The Columbine amongst they sparingly do set."
Spenser gave it a better character. Among his "gardyn of sweet floures, that dainty odours from them threw around," he places—
And, still earlier, Skelton (1463-1529) spoke of it with high praise—
The Daysy delectable,
The Columbine commendable,
The Ielofer amyable."—Phyllip Sparrow.
Both the English and the Latin names are descriptive of the plant. Columbine, or the Dove-plant, calls our attention to the "resemblance of its nectaries to the heads of pigeons in a ring round a dish, a favourite device of ancient artists" (Dr. Prior); or to "the figure of a hovering dove with expanded wings, which we obtain by pulling off a single petal with its attached sepals" (Lady Wilkinson); though it may also have had some reference to the colour, as the word is used by Chaucer—
The Marchaundes Tale (190).
The Latin name, Aquilegia, is generally supposed to come from aquilegus, a water-collector, alluding to the water-holding powers of the flower; it may, however, be derived from aquila, an eagle, but this seems more doubtful.
As a favourite garden flower, the Columbine found its way into heraldic blazonry. "It occurs in the crest of the old Barons Grey of Vitten, as may be seen in the garter coat of William Grey of Vitten" (Camden Society 1847), and is thus described in the Painter's bill for the ceremonial of the funeral of William Lord Grey of Vitten (MS. Coll. of Arms, i, 13, fol. 35a): "Item, his creste with the favron, or, sette on a leftehande glove, argent, out thereof issuyinge, caste over threade, a braunch of Collobyns, blue, the stalk vert." Old Gwillim also enumerates the Columbine among his "Coronary Herbs," as follows: "He beareth argent, a chevron sable between three Columbines slipped proper, by the name of Hall of Coventry. The Columbine is pleasing to the eye, as well in respect of the seemly (and not vulgar) shape as in regard of the azury colour thereof, and is holden to be very medicinable for the dissolving of imposthumations or swellings in the throat."
As a garden plant the Columbine still holds a favourite place. Hardy, handsome, and easy of cultivation, it commends itself to the most ornamental as well as to the cottage garden, and there are so many different sorts (both species and varieties) that all tastes may be suited. Of the common species (A. vulgaris) there are double and single, blue, white, and red; there is the beautiful dwarf A. Pyrenaica, never exceeding six inches in height, but of a very rich deep blue; there are the red and yellow ones (A. Skinneri and A. formosa) from North America; and, to mention no more, there are the lovely A. cœrulea and the grand A. chrysantha from the Rocky Mountains, certainly two of the most desirable acquisitions to our hardy flowers that we have had in late years.
CORK. (1) Rosalind. I prythee take the Cork out of thy mouth, that I may hear thy tidings. As You Like It, act iii, sc. 2 (213). (2) Clown. As you'ld thrust a Cork into a hogshead. Winter's Tale, act iii, sc. 3 (95). (3) Cornwall. Bind fast his Corky arms. King Lear, act iii, sc. 7 (28).It is most probable that Shakespeare had no further acquaintance with the Cork tree than his use of Corks. The living tree was not introduced into England till the latter part of the seventeenth century, yet is very fairly described both by Gerard and Parkinson. The Cork, however, was largely imported, and was especially used for shoes. Not only did "shoemakers put it in shoes and pantofles for warmness sake," but for its lightness it was used for the high-heeled shoes of the fashionable ladies. I suppose from the following lines that these shoes were a distinguishing part of a bride's trousseau—
My Cork-shoes from my feet,
And, gentle mother, be not coy
To bring my winding sheet."
The Bride's Burial—Roxburghe Ballads.
The Cork tree is a necessary element in all botanic gardens, but as an ornamental tree it is not sufficiently distinct from the Ilex. Though a native of the South of Europe it is hardy in England.
CORN. (1) Gonzalo. No use of metal, Corn, or wine, or oil. Tempest, act ii, sc. 1 (154). (2) Duke. Our Corn's to reap, for yet our tithe's to sow. Measure for Measure, act iv, sc. 1 (76). (3) Titania. Playing on pipes of Corn, (67) * * * * * The green CornHath rotted ere his youth attained a beard. Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii, sc. 1 (94). (4) K. Edward. What valiant foemen, like to autumn's Corn,
Have we mowed down in tops of all their pride! 3rd Henry VI, act v, sc. 7 (3). (5) Pucelle. Talk like the vulgar sort of market men
That come to gather money for their Corn. 1st Henry VI, act iii, sc. 2 (4). Poor market folks that come to sell their Corn. Ibid. (14). Good morrow, gallants! want ye Corn for bread? Ibid. (41). Burgundy. I trust, ere long, to choke thee with thine own,
And make thee curse the harvest of that Corn. Ibid. (46). (6) Duchess. Why droops my lord like over-ripened Corn
Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load? 2nd Henry VI, act i, sc. 2. (1). (7) Warwick. His well-proportioned beard made rough and ragged
Like to the summer's Corn by tempest lodged. 2nd Henry VI, act iii, sc. 2 (175). (8) Mowbray. We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind
That even our Corn shall seem as light as chaff. 2nd Henry IV, act iv, sc. 1 (194). (9) Macbeth. Though bladed Corn be lodged and trees blown down. Macbeth, act
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