Ide

hey

ead

th,'

tor,

aks

this

ayre

evil

e of

upon

hes!'

ible,'

s and

O use

and smell,

hat we sweet com

super

tioned as

profit the

great city he second yet this

e maketh

the reign

stition therein be utterly and flatly secluded, and
no mite of any holiness therein reposed.'

The Acorus Calamus, or sweet flag, myrtle grass,
or sedge, was probably the plant used for this
purpose. It was formerly supposed to resist putre-
faction and contagious disorders. It grows in moist
places by the side of streams. The stems, leaves,
and root are fragrant when bruised, and they have,
as observed by Newton, a pleasant smell.

The Rev. C. A. Johns, in his 'Flowers of the Field,' speaks thus of the sweet flag: This plant is said to have supplied the "rushes" with which, before the use of carpets had been introduced into England, it was customary to strew the floors of the great. As it did not grow in the neighbourhood of London, but had to be fetched at considerable expense from Norfolk and Suffolk, one of the charges of extravagance brought against Cardinal Wolsey was, that he caused his floors to be strewed with rushes too frequently. It is still used to strew the cathedral at Norwich on festival days.'

CHAPTER XVI.

HENRY IV. 2ND PART.*

IN Act iv. Scene 4, Aconitum is noticed. King Henry and Clarence :

Clarence. What would my lord and father?

King Henry. Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of Clarence.

How chance thou art not with the prince thy brother?
He loves thee, and thou dost neglect him, Thomas;
Thou hast a better place in his affection,

Than all thy brothers: cherish it, my boy;
And noble offices thou mayst effect

Of meditation, after I am dead,

Between his greatness and thy other brethren :
Therefore, omit him not; blunt not his love;
Nor lose the good advantage of his grace,
By seeming cold, or careless of his will.
For he is gracious, if he be observed;
He hath a tear for pity, and a hand
Open as day for melting charity;

Yet notwithstanding, being incensed, he's flint;

*First printed in 1600. 4to.

ced.

of

her?

As humorous as winter, and as sudden

As flaws congealed in the spring of day.
His temper, therefore, must be well observed:
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,
When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth:
But, being moody, give him line and scope,
Till that his passions (like a whale on ground),
Confound themselves with working. Learn this,

Thomas,

And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends,
A hoop of gold, to bind thy brothers in,
That the united vessel of their blood,
Mingled with venom of suggestion,

(As, force perforce, the age will pour it in),
Shall never leak, though it do work as strong
As aconitum or rash gunpowder.

Aconitum Napellus (common monkshood, or wolf's bane), a well-known plant, often found growing in cottagers' gardens, the whole of which, particularly the root, is very poisonous. It is a native of Switzerland, but was cultivated in England in Shakspere's time. The flowers grow in long spikes, of a deep blue colour, appearing in May, June, and July.

The ancients considered the aconite the most violent of all poisons, and fabled it the invention of Hecate, and to have sprung from the foam of Cerberus. Theophrastus speaks of it as a violent poison, without remedy; and persons in his time were forbidden to have it in their possession under pain of capital punishment.

Turner, in his 'Herbal,' says: 'This of all poisons is the most hastie poison, howbeit Pliny saith this herbe will kill a man if he take it, except it find in a man something it may kill, with that it will strive as with his match, which it hath found within the man, but this fighting is only when it hath found poison in the bowels of a living creature, and marvel it is that two dreadful poisons do both die in a man, that the man may live;' and he quaintly adds: Let our Londoners, which of late have receyved this bleue wolf's bayne, otherwise called monk's caull, take hede that the poyson of the rote of this herbe do not more harme than the freshness of the flower hath done pleasure in seven yeres. Let them not say but they are warned.' Many persons have died after eating the root, mistaking it for horse radish or celery. Lord Bacon, in his 'Sylva,' speaks of napellus as being the most powerful poison of all vegetables.

Joshua Sylvester, in his translation of Du Bartas' 'Divine Weeks,' page 80, says of aconite :—

What ranker poyson, what more deadly bane

Than aconite can there be toucht or taen.

all

liny cept at it

und

n it

ure, both

ntly

e re

alled

rote

ness

eres.

Many

king

his

most

artas'

CHAPTER XVII.

KING HENRY V.*

HE flowers named in this play are the
Strawberry (Fragaria vesca), Leek (Allium

Porrum), Darnel (Lolium temulentum), Hemlock (Conium maculatum), Fumitory (Fumaria officinalis), Cowslip (Primula veris), Burnet (Poterium Sanguisorba), Clover (Trifolium), Dock (Rumex obtusifolius), Thistle (Carduus arvensis), Burs (Arctium Lappa).

In Act i. Scene 1, the Bishop of Ely, speaking of Prince Henry to the Archbishop of Canterbury, says:

11

'The strawberry grows underneath the nettle,
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best
Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality;
And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildness, which no doubt
Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,
Unseen yet crescive in his faculty.

Strawberry (Fragaria vesca). The wood straw

*First printed in 1600. 4to.