Part 1. The Plant-Lore Of Shakespeare - Pansies, Parsley, Peach

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_ PART I. THE PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE
PANSIES, PARSLEY, PEACH

PANSIES.

(1) Ophelia.

And there is Pansies--that's for thoughts.

--- Hamlet, act iv, sc. 5 (176).

(2) Lucentio.

But see, while idly I stood looking on,
I found the effect of Love-in-idleness.

--- Taming of the Shrew, act i, sc. 1 (155).

(3) Oberon.

Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it Love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I show'd thee once;
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.

--- Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii, sc. 1 (165).

(4) Oberon.

Dian's Bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such free and blessed power.

--- Ibid., act iv, sc. 1 (78).

The Pansy is one of the oldest favourites in English gardens, and the affection for it is shown in the many names that were given to it. The Anglo-Saxon name was Banwort or Bonewort, though why such a name was given to it we cannot now say. Nor can we satisfactorily explain its common names of Pansy or Pawnce (from the French, pensees--"that is, for thoughts," says Ophelia), or Heart's-ease,[196:1] which name was originally given to the Wallflower. The name Cupid's flower seems to be peculiar to Shakespeare, but the other name, Love-in-idle, or idleness, is said to be still in use in Warwickshire, and signifies love in vain, or to no purpose, as in Chaucer: "The prophet David saith; If God ne kepe not the citee, in ydel waketh he that keptit it."[196:2] And in Tyndale's translation of the New Testament, "I have prechid to you, if ye holden, if ye hav not bileved ideli" (1 Cor. xv. 2). "Beynge plenteuous in werk of the Lord evermore, witynge that youre traveil is not idel in the Lord" (1 Cor. xv. 58).

But beside these more common names, Dr. Prior mentions the following: "Herb Trinity, Three faces under a hood, Fancy, Flamy,[197:1] Kiss me, Cull me or Cuddle me to you, Tickle my fancy, Kiss me ere I rise, Jump up and kiss me, Kiss me at the garden gate, Pink of my John, and several more of the same amatory character."

Spenser gives the flower a place in his "Royal aray" for Elisa--

"Strowe me the grounde with Daffadowndillies,
And Cowslips, and Kingcups, and loved Lillies,
The pretie Pawnce,
And the Chevisaunce
Shall match with the fayre Flower Delice."

And in another place he speaks of the "Paunces trim"--F. Q., iii. 1. Milton places it in Eve's couch--

"Flowers were the couch,
Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel,
And Hyacinth, earth's freshest, softest lap."

He names it also as part of the wreath of Sabrina--

"Pansies, Pinks, and gaudy Daffadils;"

and as one of the flowers to strew the hearse of Lycidas--

"The White Pink and the Pansie streaked with jet,
The glowing Violet."

FOOTNOTES:

[196:1] "The Pansie Heart's ease Maiden's call."--DRAYTON Ed., ix.

[196:2] And again--

"The other heste of hym is this,
Take not in ydel my name or amys."

--- Pardeners Tale.

"Eterne God, that through thy purveance
Ledest this world by certein governance,
In idel, as men sein, ye nothinge make."

--- The Frankelynes Tale.

[197:1] "Flamy, because its colours are seen in the flame of wood."--Flora Domestica, 166.

 

PARSLEY.

Biondello.

I knew a wench married in an afternoon as she went to the
garden for Parsley to stuff a rabbit.

--- Taming of the Shrew, act iv, sc 4 (99).

Parsley is the abbreviated form of Apium petroselinum, and is a common name to many umbelliferous plants, but the garden Parsley is the one meant here. This well-known little plant has the curious botanic history that no one can tell what is its native country. In 1548 Turner said, "Perseley groweth nowhere that I knowe, but only in gardens."[198:1] It is found in many countries, but is always considered an escape from cultivation. Probably the plant has been so altered by cultivation as to have lost all likeness to its original self.

Our forefathers seem to have eaten the parsley root as well as the leaves--

"Quinces and Peris ciryppe with Parcely rotes
Right so bygyn your mele."

--- RUSSELL'S Boke of Nurture, 826.

"Peres and Quynces in syrupe with Percely rotes."

--- WYNKYN DE WORDE'S Boke of Kervynge.

FOOTNOTES:

[198:1] "Names of Herbes," s.v. Apium.

 

PEACH

(1) Prince Henry.

To take note how many pair of silk stockings thou hast, viz.,
these, and those that were thy Peach-coloured ones!

--- 2nd Henry IV, act ii, sc. 2 (17).

(2) Pompey.

Then there is here one Master Caper, at the suit of Master
Threepile the mercer, for some four suits of Peach-coloured
satin, which now peaches him a beggar.

--- Measure for Measure, act iv, sc. 3 (10).

The references here are only to the colour of the Peach blossom, yet the Peach tree was a well-known tree in Shakespeare's time, and the fruit was esteemed a great delicacy, and many different varieties were cultivated. Botanically the Peach is closely allied to the Almond, and still more closely to the Apricot and Nectarine; indeed, many writers consider both the Apricot and Nectarine to be only varieties of the Peach.

The native country of the Peach is now ascertained to be China, and not Persia, as the name would imply. It probably came to the Romans through Persia, and was by them introduced into England. It occurs in Archbishop's AElfric's "Vocabulary" in the tenth century, "Persicarius, Perseoctreow;" and John de Garlande grew it in the thirteenth century, "In virgulto Magistri Johannis, pessicus fert pessica." It is named in the "Promptorium Parvulorum" as "Peche, or Peske, frute--Pesca Pomum Persicum;" and in a note the Editor says: "In a role of purchases for the Palace of Westminster preserved amongst the miscellaneous record of the Queen's remembrance, a payment occurs, Will le Gardener, pro iij koygnere, ij pichere iijs.--pro groseillere iijd, pro j peschere vjd." A.D. 1275, 4 Edw: 1--

We all know and appreciate the fruit of the Peach, but few seem to know how ornamental a tree is the Peach, quite independent of the fruit. In those parts where the soil and climate are suitable, the Peach may be grown as an ornamental spring flowering bush. When so grown preference is generally given to the double varieties, of which there are several, and which are not by any means the new plants that they are generally supposed to be, as they were cultivated both by Gerard and Parkinson. _

Read next: Part 1. The Plant-Lore Of Shakespeare: Pear, Peas

Read previous: Part 1. The Plant-Lore Of Shakespeare: Oxlips, Palm Tree

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