The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespear by Henry Nicholson Ellacombe (top 20 books to read txt) 📖
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The Knightes Tale.
Spenser noted it as "The Box yet mindful of his olde offence," and in Shakespeare's time there were probably more woods of Box in England than the two which still remain at Box Hill, in Surrey, and Boxwell, in Gloucestershire. The name remains, though the trees are gone, in Box in Wilts, Boxgrove, Boxley, Boxmoor, Boxted, and Boxworth.[39:1] From its wild quarters the Box tree was very early brought into gardens, and was especially valued, not only for its rich evergreen colour, but because, with the Yew, it could be cut and tortured into all the ungainly shapes which so delighted our ancestors in Shakespeare's time, though one of the most illustrious of them, Lord Bacon, entered his protest against such barbarisms: "I, for my part, do not like images cut out in Juniper or other garden stuff; they be for children" ("Essay of Gardens").
The chief use of the Box now is for blocks for wood-carving, for which its close grain makes it the most suitable of all woods.[39:2]
FOOTNOTES:[39:1] In Boxford, and perhaps in some of the other names, the word has no connection with the tree, but marks the presence of water or a stream.
[39:2] In some parts of Europe almost a sacred character is given to the Box. For a curious record of blessing the Box, and of a sermon on the lessons taught by the Box, see "Gardener's Chronicle," April 19, 1873.
BRAMBLE, see Blackberries. BRIER. (1) Ariel. So I charm'd their ears,That calf-like they my lowing follow'd through
Tooth'd Briers, sharp Furzes, pricking Goss, and Thorns. Tempest, act iv, sc. 1 (178). (2) Fairy. Over hill, over dale,
Thorough Bush, thorough Brier. Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii, sc. 1 (2). (3) Thisbe. Of colour like the red Rose on triumphant Brier. Ibid., act iii, sc. 1 (90). (4) Puck. I'll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through Brake, through Brier. Midsummer Night's Dream, act iii, sc. 1 (10). (5) Puck. For Briers and Thorns at their apparel snatch. Ibid., act iii, sc. 2 (29). (6) Hermia. Never so weary, never so in woe,
Bedabbled with the dew and torn with Briers. Ibid., act iii, sc. 2 (443). (7) Oberon. Every elf and fairy sprite
Hop as light as bird from Brier. Ibid., act v, sc. 1 (400). (8) Adriana. If aught possess thee from me, it is dross,
Usurping Ivy, Brier, or idle Moss. Comedy of Errors, act ii, sc. 2 (179). (9) Plantagenet. From off this Brier pluck a white Rose with me. 1st Henry IV, act ii, sc. 4 (30). (10) Rosalind. O! how full of Briers is this working-day world! As You Like It, act i, sc. 3 (12). (11) Helena. The time will bring on summer,
When Briers shall have leaves as well as Thorns,
And be as sweet as sharp. All's Well, act iv, sc. 4 (32). (12) Polyxenes. I'll have thy beauty scratched with Briers. Winter's Tale, act iv, sc. 4 (436). (13) Timon. The Oaks bear mast, the Briers scarlet hips. Timon of Athens, act iv, sc. 3 (422). (14) Coriolanus. Scratches with Briers,
Scars to move laughter only. Coriolanus, act iii, sc. 3 (51). (15) Quintus. What subtle hole is this,
Whose mouth is cover'd with rude-growing Briers? Titus Andronicus, act iii, sc. 3 (198).
In Shakespeare's time the "Brier" was not restricted to the Sweet Briar, as it usually is now; but it meant any sort of wild Rose, and even it would seem from No. 9 that it was applied to the cultivated Rose, for there the scene is laid in the Temple Gardens. In some of the passages it probably does not allude to any Rose, but simply to any wild thorny plant. That this was its common use then, we know from many examples. In "Le Morte Arthur," the Earl of Ascolot's daughter is described—
Or floure that springith in the felde" (179).
And in "A Pleasant New Court Song," in the Roxburghe Ballads—
Under a Hawthorn Bryer."
It bears the same meaning in our Bibles, where "Thorns," "Brambles," and "Briers," stand for any thorny and useless plant, the soil of Palestine being especially productive of thorny plants of many kinds. Wickliffe's translation of Matthew vii. 16, is—"Whether men gaderen grapis of thornes; or figis of Breris?" and Tyndale's translation is much the same—"Do men gaddre grapes of thornes, or figges of Bryeres?"[41:1]
FOOTNOTES:[41:1] "Brere—Carduus, tribulus, vepres, veprecula."—Catholicon Anglicum.
BROOM. (1) Iris. And thy Broom groves,Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,
Being lass-lorn. Tempest, act iv, sc. 1 (66). (2) Puck. I am sent with Broom before
To sweep the dust behind the door. Midsummer Night's Dream, act v, sc. 1 (396). (3) Man. I made good my place; at length they came to the Broomstaff with me. Henry VIII, act v, sc. 4 (56).
The Broom was one of the most popular plants of the Middle Ages. Its modern Latin name is Cytisus scoparius, but under its then Latin name of Planta genista it gave its name to the Plantagenet family, either in the time of Henry II., as generally reported, or probably still earlier. As the favourite badge of the family it appears on their monuments and portraits, and was embroidered on their clothes and imitated in their jewels. Nor was it only in England that the plant was held in such high favour; it was the special flower of the Scotch, and it was highly esteemed in many countries on the Continent, especially in Brittany. Yet, in spite of all this, there are only these three notices of the plant in Shakespeare, and of those three, two (2 and 3) refer to its uses when dead; and the third (1), though it speaks of it as living, yet has nothing to say of the remarkable beauties of this favourite British flower. Yet it has great beauties which cannot easily be overlooked. Its large, yellow flowers, its graceful habit of growth, and its fragrance—
Spenser, Sonnet xxvi.
at once arrest the attention of the most careless observer of Nature. We are almost driven to the conclusion that Shakespeare could not have had much real acquaintance with the Broom, or he would not have sent his "dismissed bachelor" to "Broom-groves."[42:1] I should very much doubt that the Broom could ever attain to the dimensions of a grove, though Steevens has a note on the passage that "near Gamlingay, in Cambridgeshire, it grows high enough to conceal the tallest cattle as they pass through it; and in places where it is cultivated still higher." Chaucer speaks of the Broom, but does not make it so much of a tree—
And other poets have spoken of the Broom in the same way—thus Collins—
Amid the Broom he basked him on the ground."
Castle of Indolence, canto i.
And a Russian poet speaks of the Broom as a tree—
The young grey eagle flapping now."
Flora Domestica, p. 68.
As a garden plant it is perhaps seen to best advantage when mixed with other shrubs, as when grown quite by itself it often has an untidy look. There is a pure white variety which is very beautiful, but it is very liable to flower so abundantly as to flower itself to death. There are a few other sorts, but none more beautiful than the British.
FOOTNOTES:[42:1] Yet Bromsgrove must be a corruption of Broom-grove, and there are other places in England named from the Broom.
BULRUSH. Wooer. Her careless tressesA wreake of Bulrush rounded. Two Noble Kinsmen, act iv, sc. 1 (104).
See Rush, p. 262.
BURDOCK AND BURS. (1) Celia. They are but Burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday foolery; if we walk not in the trodden paths our very petticoats will catch them. Rosalind. I could shake them off my coat; these Burs are in my heart. As You Like It, act i, sc. 3 (13). (2) Lucio. Nay, friar, I am a kind of Bur; I shall stick. Measure for Measure, act iv, sc. 3 (149). (3) Lysander. Hang oft, thou cat, thou Burr. Midsummer Night's Dream, act iii, sc. 2 (260). (4) Pandarus. They are Burs, I can tell you; they'll stick where they are thrown. Troilus and Cressida, act iii, sc. 2 (118). (5) Burgundy. And nothing teemsBut hateful Docks, rough Thistles, Kecksies, Burs. Henry V, act v, sc. 2 (51). (6) Cordelia. Crown'd with rank Fumiter and Furrow-weeds,
With Burdocks, Hemlock, Nettles, Cuckoo-flowers. King Lear, act iv, sc. 4 (3).
The Burs are the unopened flowers of the Burdock (Arctium lappa), and their clinging quality very early obtained for them expressive names, such as amor folia, love leaves, and philantropium. This clinging quality arises from the bracts of the involucrum being long and stiff, and with hooked tips which attach themselves to every passing object. The Burdock is a very handsome plant when seen in its native habitat by the side of a brook, its broad leaves being most picturesque, but it is not a plant to introduce into a garden.[44:1] There is another tribe of plants, however, which are sufficiently ornamental to merit a place in the garden, and whose Burs are even more clinging than those of the Burdock. These are the Acænas; they are mostly natives of America and New Zealand, and some of them (especially A. sarmentosa and A. microphylla) form excellent carpet plants, but their points being furnished with double hooks, like a double-barbed arrow, they have double powers of clinging.
FOOTNOTES:[44:1]
For swoot, and to keep his heed from hete."
Chaucer, Prologue of the Chanounes Yeman (25).
This Clote leaf is by many considered to be the Burdock leaf, but it was more probably the name of the Water-lily.
BURNET. Burgundy. The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forthThe freckled Cowslip, Burnet, and green Clover. Henry V. act v, sc. 2 (48).
The Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba) is a native plant of no great beauty or horticultural interest, but it was valued as a good salad plant, the leaves tasting of Cucumber, and Lord Bacon (contemporary with Shakespeare) seems to have been especially fond of it. He says ("Essay of Gardens"):
"Those flowers which perfume the air most delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but being trodden upon and crushed, are three—that is, Burnet, Wild Thyme, and Water Mints; therefore you are to set
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