The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespear by Henry Nicholson Ellacombe (top 20 books to read txt) 📖
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Have slime upon them. Ibid., act v, sc. 2 (354). (5) Pistol. When Pistol lies, do this; and Fig me, like
The bragging Spaniard. 2nd Henry IV, act v, sc. 3 (123). (6) Pistol. Die and be damned, and Figo for thy friendship. Fluellen. It is well. Pistol. The Fig of Spain. Henry V, act iii, sc. 6 (60). (7) Pistol. The Figo for thee, then. Ibid., act iv, sc. 1 (60). (8) Iago. Virtue! a Fig! Othello, act i, sc. 3 (322). (9) Iago. Blessed Fig's end! Ibid., act ii, sc. 1 (256). (10) Horner. I'll pledge you all, and a Fig for Peter. 2nd Henry IV, act ii, sc. 3 (66). (11) Pistol. "Convey," the wise it call; "steal!" foh! a Fico for the phrase! Merry Wives, act i, sc. 3 (32). (12) Charmian. O excellent! I love long life better than Figs. Antony and Cleopatra, act i, sc. 2 (32).
In some of these passages (as 5, 6, 7, and perhaps in more) the reference is to a grossly insulting and indecent gesture called "making the fig." It was a most unpleasant custom, which largely prevailed throughout Europe in Shakespeare's time, and on which I need not dwell. It is fully described in Douce's "Illustrations of Shakespeare," i, 492.
In some of the other quotations the reference is simply to the proverbial likeness of a Fig to a matter of the least importance.[94:1] But in the others the dainty fruit, the green Fig, is noticed.
The Fig tree, celebrated from the earliest times for the beauty of its foliage and for its "sweetness and good fruit" (Judges ix. 11), is said to have been introduced into England by the Romans; but the more reliable accounts attribute its introduction to Cardinal Pole, who is said to have planted the Fig tree still living at Lambeth Palace. Botanically, the Fig is of especial interest. The Fig, as we eat it, is neither fruit nor flower, though partaking of both, being really the hollow, fleshy receptacle enclosing a multitude of flowers, which never see the light, yet come to full perfection and ripen their seed. The Fig stands alone in this peculiar arrangement of its flowers, but there are other plants of which we eat the unopened or undeveloped flowers, as the Artichoke, the Cauliflower, the Caper, the Clove, and the Pine Apple.
FOOTNOTES:[94:1] This proverbial worthlessness of the Fig is of ancient date. Theocritus speaks of συκινοι ανδρες, useless men; Horace, "Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum;" and Juvenal, "Sterilis mala robora ficus."
FILBERTS. Caliban. I'll bring thee to clustering Filberds. Tempest, act ii, sc. 2(174). (See Hazel.) FLAGS. Cæsar. This common bodyLike to a vagabond Flag upon the stream
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide,
To rot itself with motion. Antony and Cleopatra, act i, sc. 4 (44).
We now commonly call the Iris a Flag, and in Shakespeare's time the Iris pseudoacorus was called the Water Flag, and so this passage might, perhaps, have been placed under Flower-de-luce. But I do not think that the Flower-de-luce proper was ever called a Flag at that time, whereas we know that many plants, especially the Reeds and Bulrushes, were called in a general way Flags. This is the case in the Bible, the language of which is always a safe guide in the interpretation of contemporary literature. The mother of Moses having placed the infant in the ark of Bulrushes, "laid it in the Flags by the river's brink," and the daughter of Pharaoh "saw the ark among the Flags." Job asks, "Can the Flag grow without water?" and Isaiah draws the picture of desolation when "the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up, and the Reeds and the Flags shall wither." But in these passages, not only is the original word very loosely translated, but the original word itself was so loosely used that long ago Jerome had said it might mean any marsh plant, quidquid in palude virens nascitur. And in the same way I conclude that when Shakespeare named the Flag he meant any long-leaved waterside plant that is swayed to and fro by the stream, and that therefore this passage might very properly have been placed under Rushes.
FLAX. (1) Ford. What, a hodge-pudding? a bag of Flax? Merry Wives, act v, sc. 5 (159). (2) Clifford. Beauty that the tyrant oft reclaimsShall to my flaming wrath be oil and Flax. 2nd Henry VI, act v, sc. 2 (54). (3) Sir Toby. Excellent; it hangs like Flax in a distaff. Twelfth Night, act i, sc. 3 (108). (4) 3rd Servant. Go thou: I'll fetch some Flax and white of eggs
To apply to his bleeding face.[95:1] King Lear, act iii, sc. 7 (106). (5) Ophelia. His beard was as white as snow,
All Flaxen was his poll. Hamlet, act iv, sc. 5 (195). (6) Leontes. My wife deserves a name
As rank as any Flax-wench. Winter's Tale, act i, sc. 2 (276). (7) Emilia. It could
No more be hid in him, than fire in Flax. Two Noble Kinsmen, act v, sc. 3 (113).
The Flax of commerce (Linum usitatissimum) is not a true native, though Turner said: "I have seen flax or lynt growyng wilde in Sommerset shyre" ("Herbal," part ii. p. 39); but it takes kindly to the soil, and soon becomes naturalized in the neighbourhood of any Flax field or mill. We have, however, three native Flaxes in England, of which the smallest, the Fairy Flax (L. catharticum), is one of the most graceful ornaments of our higher downs and hills.[96:1] The Flax of commerce, which is the plant referred to by Shakespeare, is supposed to be a native of Egypt, and we have early notice of it in the Book of Exodus; and the microscope has shown that the cere-cloths of the most ancient Egyptian mummies are made of linen. It was very early introduced into England, and the spinning of Flax was the regular occupation of the women of every household, from the mistress downwards, so that even queens are represented in the old illuminations in the act of spinning, and "the spinning-wheel was a necessary implement in every household, from the palace to the cottage."—Wright, Domestic Manners. The occupation is now almost gone, driven out by machinery, but it has left its mark on our language, at least on our legal language, which acknowledges as the only designation of an unmarried woman that she is "a spinster."
A crop of Flax is one of the most beautiful, from the rich colour of the flowers resting on their dainty stalks. But it is also most useful; from it we get linen, linseed oil, oilcake, and linseed-meal; nor do its virtues end there, for "Sir John Herschel tells us the surprising fact that old linen rags will, when treated with sulphuric acid, yield more than their own weight of sugar. It is something even to have lived in days when our worn-out napkins may possibly reappear on our tables in the form of sugar."—Lady Wilkinson.
As garden plants the Flaxes are all ornamental. There are about eighty species, some herbaceous and some shrubby, and of almost all colours, and in most of the species the colours are remarkably bright and clear. There is no finer blue than in L. usitatissimum, no finer yellow than in L. trigynum, or finer scarlet than in L. grandiflorum.
FOOTNOTES:[95:1] "Juniper. Go get white of egg and a little Flax, and close the breach of the head; it is the most conducible thing that can be."—Ben Jonson, The Case Altered, act ii, sc. 4.
[96:1] "From the abundant harvests of this elegant weed on the upland pastures, prepared and manufactured by supernatural skill, 'the good people' were wont, in the olden time, to procure the necessary supplies of linen!"—Johnston.
FLOWER-DE-LUCE. (1) Perdita. Lilies of all kinds,The Flower-de-luce being one. Winters Tale, act iv, sc. 4 (126). (2) K. Henry. What sayest thou, my fair Flower-de-luce? Henry V, act v, sc. 2 (323). (3) Messenger. Cropped are the Flower-de-luces in your arms;
Of England's coat one half is cut away. 1st Henry VI, act i, sc. 1 (80). (4) Pucelle. I am prepared; here is my keen-edged sword
Deck'd with five Flower-de-luces on each side. Ibid., act i, sc. 2 (98). (5) York. A sceptre shall it have, have I a soul, On which I'll toss the Flower-de-luce of France. 2nd Henry VI, act v, sc. 1 (10).
Out of these five passages four relate to the Fleur-de-luce as the cognizance of France, and much learned ink has been spilled in the endeavour to find out what flower, if any, was intended to be represented, so that Mr. Planché says that "next to the origin of heraldry itself, perhaps nothing connected with it has given rise to so much controversy as the origin of this celebrated charge." It has been at various times asserted to be an Iris, a Lily, a sword-hilt, a spearhead, and a toad, or to be simply the Fleur de St. Louis. Adhuc sub judice lis est—and it is never likely to be satisfactorily settled. I need not therefore dwell on it, especially as my present business is to settle not what the Fleur-de-luce meant in the arms of France, but what it meant in Shakespeare's writings. But here the same difficulty at once meets us, some writers affirming stoutly that it is a Lily, others as stoutly that it is an Iris. For the Lily theory there are the facts that Shakespeare calls it one of the Lilies, and that the other way of spelling it is Fleur-de-lys. I find also a strong confirmation of this in the writings of St. Francis de Sales (contemporary with Shakespeare). "Charity," he says, "comprehends the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, and resembles a beautiful Flower-de-luce, which has six leaves whiter than snow, and in the middle the pretty little golden hammers" ("Philo," book xi., Mulholland's translation). This description will in no way fit the Iris, but it may very well be applied to the White Lily. Chaucer, too, seems to connect the Fleur-de-luce with the Lily—
These are certainly strong authorities for saying that the Flower-de-luce is the Lily. But there are as strong or stronger on the other side. Spenser separates the Lilies from the Flower-de-luces in his pretty lines—
And Cowslips, and Kingcups, and lovéd Lillies;
The Pretty Pawnce
And the Chevisaunce
Shall match with the fayre Floure Delice."
Shepherd's Calendar.
Ben Jonson separates them in the same way—
Lord Bacon also separates them: "In April follow the double White Violet, the Wall-flower, the Stock-Gilliflower, the Cowslip, the Flower-de-luces, and Lilies of all Natures;" and so does Drayton—
For colours much contenting."
Nymphal V.
In heraldry also the Fleur-de-lis and the Lily are two distinct
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