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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A good mouth-filling oath, and leave "in sooth,"
And such protest of pepper Ginger-bread
To velvet-guards and Sunday-citizens. 1st Henry IV, act iii, sc. 1 (258).
Ginger was well known both to the Greeks and Romans. It was imported from Arabia, together with its name, Zingiberri, which it has retained, with little variation, in all languages.
When it was first imported into England is not known, but probably by the Romans, for it occurs as a common ingredient in many of the Anglo-Saxon medical recipes. Russell, in the "Boke of Nurture," mentions several kinds of Ginger; as green and white, "colombyne, valadyne, and Maydelyn." In Shakespeare's time it was evidently very common and cheap.
It is produced from the roots of Zingiber officinale, a member of the large and handsome family of the Ginger-worts. The family contains some of the most beautiful of our greenhouse plants, as the Hedychiums, Alpinias, and Mantisias; and, though entirely tropical, most of the species are of easy cultivation in England. Ginger is very easily reared in hotbeds, and I should think it very probable that it may have been so grown in Shakespeare's time. Gerard attempted to grow it, but he naturally failed, by trying to grow it in the open ground as a hardy plant; yet "it sprouted and budded forth greene leaves in my garden in the heate of somer;" and he tells us that plants were sent him by "an honest and expert apothecarie, William Dries, of Antwerp," and "that the same had budded and grown in the said Dries' garden."
GOOSEBERRIES. Falstaff. All the other gifts appertinent to man, as the malice of this age shapes them, are not worth a Gooseberry. 2nd Henry IV, act i, sc. 2 (194).The Gooseberry is probably a native of the North of England, but Turner said (s.v. uva crispa) "it groweth onely that I have sene in England, in gardines, but I have sene it in Germany abrode in the fieldes amonge other busshes."
The name has nothing to do with the goose. Dr. Prior has satisfactorily shown that the word is a corruption of "Crossberry." By the writers of Shakespeare's time, and even later, it was called Feaberry (Gerard, Lawson, and others), and in one of the many books on the Plague published in the sixteenth century, the patient is recommended to eat "thepes, or goseberries" ("A Counsell against the Sweate," fol. 23).
GORSE or GOSS. Ariel. Tooth'd Briers, sharp Furzes, pricking Goss, and Thorns. Tempest, act iv, sc. 1 (180).In speaking of the Furze (which see), I said that in Shakespeare's time the Furze and Gorse were probably distinguished, though now the two names are applied to the same plant. "In the 15th Henry VI. (1436), license was given to Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester, to inclose 200 acres of land—pasture, wode, hethe, vrises,[106:1] and gorste (bruere, et jampnorum), and to form thereof a Park at Greenwich."—Rot. Parl. iv. 498.[106:2] This proves that the "Gorst" was different from the "Vrise," and it may very likely have been the Petty Whin. "Pricking Goss," however, may be only a generic term, like Bramble and Brier, for any wild prickly plant.
FOOTNOTES:[106:1] There is a hill near Lansdown (Bath) now called Frizen or Freezing Hill. Within memory of man it was covered with Gorse. This was probably the origin of the name, "Vrisen Hill."
[106:2] "Promptorium Parvulorum," p. 162, note.
GOURD. Pistol. For Gourd and fullam holds. Merry Wives, act i, sc. 3 (94).I merely mention this to point out that "Gourd," though probably originally derived from the fruit, is not the fruit here, but is an instrument of gambling. The fruit, however, was well known in Shakespeare's time, and was used as the type of intense greenness—
Crept under Moss, as green as any Gourd."
Spenser, Virgil's Gnat.
GRACE, see Rue. GRAPES, see Vines. GRASSES. (1) Gonzalo. How lush and lusty the Grass looks! how green! Tempest, act ii, sc. 1 (52). (2) Iris. Here, on this Grass-plot, in this very placeTo come and sport. Ibid., act iv, sc. 1 (73). (3) Ceres. Why hath thy Queen
Summon'd me hither to this short-grass'd green? Ibid. (82). (4) Lysander. When Phœbe doth behold
Her silver visage in the watery glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed Grass. Midsummer Night's Dream, act i, sc. 1 (209). (5) King. Say to her, we have measured many miles
To tread a measure with her on this Grass. Boyet. They say, that they have measured many miles
To tread a measure with her on the Grass. Love's Labour's Lost, act v, sc. 2 (184). (6) Clown. I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, sir, I have not much skill in Grass. All's Well that Ends Well, act iv, sc. 5 (21). (7) Luciana. If thou art changed to aught, 'tis to an ass. Dromio of Syracuse. 'Tis true; she rides me, and I long for Grass. Comedy of Errors, act ii, sc. 2 (201). (8) Bolingbroke. Here we march
Upon the Grassy carpet of the plain. Richard II, act iii, sc. 3 (49). (9) King Richard. And bedew
Her pasture's Grass with faithful English blood. Ibid. (100). (10) Ely. Grew like the summer Grass, fastest by night, Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty. Henry V, act i, sc. 1 (65). (11) King Henry. Mowing like Grass
Your fresh-fair virgins and your flowering infants. Ibid., act iii, sc. 3 (13). (12) Grandpre. And in their pale dull mouths the gimmal bit
Lies foul with chew'd Grass, still and motionless. Henry V, act iv, sc. 2 (49). (13) Suffolk. Though standing naked on a mountain top
Where biting cold would never let Grass grow. 2nd Henry VI, act iii, sc. 2 (336). (14) Cade. All the realm shall be in common; and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to Grass. Ibid., act iv, sc. 2 (74). (15) Cade. Wherefore on a brick wall have I climbed into this garden, to see if I can eat Grass or pick a Sallet another while, which is not amiss to cool a man's stomach this hot weather. Ibid., act iv, sc. 10 (7). (16) Cade. If I do not leave you all as dead as a door-nail, I pray God I may never eat Grass more. Ibid. (42). (17) 1st Bandit. We cannot live on Grass, on berries, water,
As beasts and birds and fishes. Timon of Athens, act iv, sc. 3 (425). (18) Saturninus. These tidings nip me, and I hang the head
As Flowers with frost or Grass beat down with storms. Titus Andronicus, act iv, sc. 4 (70). (19) Hamlet. Ay but, sir, "while the Grass grows"—the proverb is something musty. Hamlet, act iii, sc. 2 (358). (20) Ophelia. He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone;
At his head a Grass-green turf,
At his heels a stone.
Ibid., act iv, sc. 5 (29). (21) Salarino. I should be still
Plucking the Grass to know where sits the wind. Merchant of Venice, act i, sc. 1 (17).
In and before Shakespeare's time Grass was used as a general term for all plants. Thus Chaucer—
Sche schal eek know, to whom it will do boote
Al be his woundes never so deep and wyde."
The Squyeres Tale.
It is used in the same general way in the Bible, "the Grass of the field."
In the whole range of botanical studies the accurate study of the Grasses is, perhaps, the most difficult as the genus is the most extensive, for Grasses are said to "constitute, perhaps, a twelfth part of the described species of flowering plants, and at least nine-tenths of the number of individuals comprising the vegetation of the world" (Lindley), so that a full study of the Grasses may almost be said to be the work of a lifetime. But Shakespeare was certainly no such student of Grasses: in all these passages Grass is only mentioned in a generic manner, without any reference to any particular Grass. The passages in which hay is mentioned, I have not thought necessary to quote.
HAREBELL. Arviragus. Thou shalt not lackThe flower that's like thy face, pale Primrose, nor
The azured Harebell, like thy veins. Cymbeline, act iv, sc. 2 (220). (See Eglantine.)
The Harebell of Shakespeare is undoubtedly the Wild Hyacinth (Scilla nutans), the "sanguine flower inscribed with woe" of Milton's "Lycidas," though we must bear in mind that the name is applied differently in various parts of the island; thus "the Harebell of Scotch writers is the Campanula, and the Bluebell, so celebrated in Scottish song, is the Wild Hyacinth or Scilla; while in England the same names are used conversely, the Campanula being the Bluebell and the Wild Hyacinth the Harebell" ("Poets' Pleasaunce")—but this will only apply in poetry; in ordinary language, at least in the South of England, the Wild Hyacinth is the Bluebell, and is the plant referred to by Shakespeare as the Harebell.
It is one of the chief ornaments of our woods,[109:1] growing in profusion wherever it establishes itself, and being found of various colours—pink, white, and blue. As a garden flower it may well be introduced into shrubberies, but as a border plant it cannot compete with its rival relation, the Hyacinthus orientalis, which is the parent of all the fine double and many coloured Hyacinths in which the florists have delighted for the last two centuries.
FOOTNOTES:[109:1] "'Dust of sapphire,' writes my friend Dr. John Brown to me of the wood Hyacinths of Scotland in the spring; yes, that is so—each bud more beautiful itself than perfectest jewel."—Ruskin, Proserpina, p. 73.
HARLOCKS. Cordelia. Crown'd with rank Fumiter and Furrow-weeds,With Harlocks, Hemlock, Nettles, Cuckoo-flowers. King Lear, act iv, sc. 4 (3). (See Cuckoo-flowers.)
I cannot do better than follow Dr. Prior on this word: "Harlock, as usually printed in 'King Lear' and in Drayton, ecl. 4—
The Lily and the Lady-smocke,'
is a word that does not occur in the Herbals, and which the commentators have supposed to be a misprint for Charlock. There can be little doubt that Hardock is the correct reading, and that the plant meant is the one now called Burdock." Schmidt also adopts Burdock as the right interpretation.
HAWTHORNS. (1) Rosalind. There's a man hangs odes upon Hawthorns and elegies on Brambles. As You Like It, act iii, sc. 2 (379). (2) Quince. This green plot shall be our stage, this Hawthorn-brake our tiring house. Midsummer Night's Dream, act iii, sc. 1 (3). (3) Helena. Your tongue's sweet air,More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
When Wheat is green, when Hawthorn-buds appear. Ibid., act
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