The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespear, Henry Nicholson Ellacombe [read with me .TXT] 📗
- Author: Henry Nicholson Ellacombe
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I have already quoted Lord Bacon's account of it under Burnet, but I must quote it again here: "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 whole alleys of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread;" and again in his pleasant description of the heath or wild garden, which he would have in every "prince-like garden," and "framed as much as may be to a natural wildness," he says, "I like also little heaps, in the nature of mole-hills (such as are in wild heaths) to be set some with Wild Thyme, some with Pinks, some with Germander." Yet the name may have been used sometimes as a general name for any wild, strong-scented plant. It can only be in this sense that Milton used it—
With Wild Thyme and the gadding Vine o'ergrown,
And all their echoes mourn."
Lycidas.
for certainly a desert cave is almost the last place in which we should look for the true Wild Thyme.
It is as a bee-plant especially that the Thyme has always been celebrated. Spenser speaks of it as "the bees alluring Tyme," and Ovid says of it, speaking of Chloris or Flora—
Ad violam et cytisos, et Thyma cana voco."
Fasti, v.
so that the Thyme became proverbial as the symbol of sweetness. It was the highest compliment that the shepherd could pay to his mistress—
Virgil, Ecl. vii.
And it was because of its wild Thyme that Mount Hymettus became so celebrated for its honey—"Mella Thymi redolentia flore" (Ovid). "Thyme, for the time it lasteth, yeeldeth most and best honni, and therefore in old time was accounted chief (Thymus aptissimus ad mellificum—Pastus gratissimus apibus Thymum est—Plinii, 'His. Nat.')
Virgil, Georg.
Hymettus in Greece and Hybla in Sicily were so famous for Bees and Honni, because there grew such store of Tyme; propter hoc Siculum mel fert palmam, quod ibi Thymum bonum et frequens est."—Varro, The Feminine Monarchie, 1634.
The Wild Thyme can scarcely be considered a garden plant, except in its variegated and golden varieties, which are very handsome, but if it should ever come naturally in the turf, it should be welcomed and cherished for its sweet scent. The garden Thyme (T. vulgaris) must of course be in every herb garden; and there are a few species which make good plants for the rockwork, such as T. lanceolatus from Greece, a very low-growing shrub, with narrow, pointed leaves; T. carnosus, which makes a pretty little shrub, and others; while the Corsican Thyme (Mentha Requieni) is perhaps the lowest and closest-growing of all herbs, making a dark-green covering to the soil, and having a very strong scent, though more resembling Peppermint than Thyme.
TOADSTOOLS, see Mushrooms. TURNIPS. Anne. Alas! I had rather be set quick i' the earthAnd boul'd to death with Turnips. Merry Wives of Windsor, act iii, sc. 4 (89).
The Turnips of Shakespeare's time were like ours, and probably as good, though their cultivation seems to have been chiefly confined to gardens. It is not very certain whether the cultivated Turnip is the wild Turnip improved in England by cultivation, or whether we are indebted for it to the Romans, and that the wild one is only the degenerate form of the cultivated plant; for though the wild Turnip is admitted into the English flora, yet its right to the admission is very doubtful. But if we did not get the vegetable from the Romans we got its name. The old name for it was nœp, nep, or neps, which was only the English form of the Latin napus, while Turnip is the corruption of terræ napus, but when the first syllable was added I do not know. There is a curious perversion in the name, for our Turnip is botanically Brassica rapa, while the Rape is Brassica napus, so that the English and Latin have changed places, the Napus becoming a Rape and the Rapa a Nep.
The present large field cultivation of Turnips is of comparatively a modern date, though the field Turnip and garden Turnip are only varieties of the same species, while there are also many varieties both of the field and garden Turnip. "One field proclaims the Scotch variety, while the bluer cast tells its hardy Swedish origin; the tankard proclaims a deep soil, and the lover of boiled mutton, rejoicing, sees the yellower tint of the Dutch or Stone Turnip, which he desires to meet with again in the market."—Phillips.
It is not very easy to speak of the moral qualities of Turnips, or to make them the symbols of much virtue, yet Gwillim did so: "He beareth sable, a Turnip proper, a chief or gutte de Larmes. This is a wholesome root, and yieldeth great relief to the poor, and prospereth best in a hot sandy ground, and may signifie a person of good disposition, whose vertuous demeanour flourisheth most prosperously, even in that soil, where the searching heat of envy most aboundeth. This differeth much in nature from that whereof it is said, 'And that there should not be among you any root that bringeth forth gall and wormwood.'"—Gwillim's Heraldry, sec. iii. c. 11.
VETCHES. Iris. Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas,Of Wheat, Rye, Barley, Vetches, Oats, and Pease. Tempest, act iv, sc. 1 (60).
The cultivated Vetch (Vicia sativa) is probably not a British plant, and it is not very certain to what country it rightly belongs; but it was very probably introduced into England by the Romans as an excellent and easily-grown fodder-plant. There are several Vetches that are true British plants, and they are among the most beautiful ornaments of our lanes and hedges. Two especially deserve to take a place in the garden for their beauty; but they require watching, or they will scramble into parts where their presence is not desirable; these are V. cracca and V. sylvatica. V. cracca has a very bright pure blue flower, and may be allowed to scramble over low bushes; V. sylvatica is a tall climber, and may be seen in copses and high hedges climbing to the tops of the Hazels and other tall bushes. It is one of the most graceful of our British plants, and perhaps quite the most graceful of our climbers; it bears an abundance of flowers, which are pure white streaked and spotted with pale blue; it is not a very common plant, but I have often seen it in Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, and wherever it is found it is generally in abundance.
The other name for the Vetch is Tares, which is, no doubt, an old English word that has never been satisfactorily explained. The word has an interest from its biblical associations, though modern scholars decide that the Zizania is wrongly translated Tares, and that it is rather a bastard Wheat or Darnel.
VINES. (1) Titania. Feed him with Apricocks and Dewberries,With purple Grapes, green Figs, and Mulberries. Midsummer Night's Dream, act iii, sc. 1 (169). (2) Menenius. The tartness of his face sours ripe Grapes. Coriolanus, act v, sc. 4 (18). (3) Song. Come, thou monarch of the Vine,
Plumpy Bacchus, with pink eyne!
In thy fats our cares be drown'd,
With thy Grapes our hairs be crown'd. Antony and Cleopatra, act ii, sc. 7 (120). (4) Cleopatra. Now no more
The juice of Egypt's Grape shall moist this lip. Ibid., act v, sc. 2 (284). (5) Timon. Dry up thy Marrows, Vines, and plough-torn leas. Timon of Athens, act iv, sc. 3 (193). (6) Timon. Go, suck the subtle blood o' the Grape,
Till the high fever seethe your blood to froth. Ibid. (432). (7) Touchstone. The heathen philosopher, when he had a desire to eat a Grape, would open his lips when he put it into his mouth; meaning thereby that Grapes were made to eat and lips to open. As You Like It, act v, sc. 1 (36). (8) Iago. Blessed Fig's end! the wine she drinks is made of Grapes. Othello, act ii, sc 1 (250). (9) Lafeu. O, will you eat no Grapes, my royal fox?
Yes, but you will my noble Grapes, an if
My royal fox could reach them. All's Well that Ends Well, act ii, sc. 1 (73). (10) Lafeu. There's one Grape yet. Ibid., act ii, sc. 1 (105). (11) Pompey. 'Twas in "The Bunch of Grapes," where, indeed, you have a delight to sit. Measure for Measure, act ii, sc. 1 (133). (12) Constable. Let us quit all
And give our Vineyards to a barbarous people. Henry V, act iii, sc. 5 (3). (13) Burgundy. Her Vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unpruned, dies. * * * * * Our Vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges,
Defective in their natures, grow to wildness. Ibid., act v, sc. 2 (41, 54). (14) Mortimer. And pithless arms, like to a wither'd Vine
That droops his sapless branches to the ground. 1st Henry VI, act ii, sc. 5 (11). (15) Cranmer. In her days every man shall eat in safety,
Under his own Vine, what he plants; and sing
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours. Henry VIII, act v, sc. 5 (34). (16) Cranmer. Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror,
That were the servants to this chosen infant,
Shall then be his, and like a Vine grow to him. Ibid. (48). (17) Lear. Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; to whose young love
The Vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd. King Lear, act i, sc. 1 (84). (18) Arviragus. And let the stinking Elder, grief, untwine
His perishing root with the increasing Vine! Cymbeline, act iv, sc. 2 (59). (19) Adriana. Thou art an Elm, my husband, I a Vine,
Whose weakness married to thy stronger state
Makes me with thy strength to communicate. Comedy of Errors, act ii, sc.
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