CHAPTER VII.

LOVE'S LABOUR 'S LOST.

HE plants named in this play are Daisy
(Bellis perennis), Violet (Viola odorata),
Lady smocks (Cardamine pratensis),

Cuckoo buds (Ranunculus Ficaria).

Act v. Scene 2. Song. Ist Verse. Spring:-
:-

When daisies pied, and violets blue,

And lady smocks all silver-white,

And cuckoo buds of yellow bue

Do paint the meadows with delight.

Daisy (Bellis perennis). The only British species, blossoms all the year, is one of the earliest flowers of Spring, and a general favourite. It formed part of Ophelia's garland. (See Hamlet.)

Cowley calls this flower the first-born of the teeming Spring.'

* First printed in 1598. 4to.

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Violets. The blue violets commonly growing wild are Viola odorata (sweet violet) and Viola canina (dog violet), the former, well known for its fragrance, is often of a deep blue colour, and appears early in Spring. The latter is of a lighter hue; more abundant, but scentless, and flowers mostly in April. Shakspere alluded to one or both of these.

The latter is the one called blue-veined violet in Venus and Adonis. (See 'violet' in Midsummer Night's Dream.)

Lady smocks, originally called our Lady smocks (Cardamine pratensis). A common meadow plant, with blushing white flowers, appearing early in Spring. Sir J. E. Smith says they cover the meadows as with linen bleaching, whence the name of lady smocks is supposed to come. They are associated with pleasant ideas of Spring, and join with the harebell and other flowers to compose the rustic nosegay. Some authors say it first flowers about Lady-tide, or the Paschal of the Annunciation, hence its name.'

Cuckoo buds. Although Mr. Miller, in his 'Gardener's Dictionary,' says that the flower here alluded to is the Ranunculus bulbosus, I think Shakspere particularly referred to the Ranunculus Ficaria (lesser celandine), or pilewort, as this flower appears earlier in Spring, and is in bloom at the

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same time as the other flowers named in the song.
One commentator on this passage has mistaken the
Flos cuculi, or Cuckoo flower (Lychnis Flos cuculi),
for cuckoo buds. Another writer says cuckoo flower
must be wrong, and believes cowslip buds the true
reading, but this is clearly a mistake. Whalley,
the editor of Ben Jonson's works, proposes to read
crocus buds, which is likewise incorrect.

These yellow buds, appearing at the same time
as the other flowers, give the effect described by the
poet, of painting the meadows with delight.

Other writers of the sixteenth century speak of
Spring flowers as:-

The beauteous children of the spring,
The flowery graces of the smiling spring,
The motley meadow's glory and delight.

And Spring is also described as the time that the
Lady Flora useth to clothe our Grandame Earth
with a new livery, diapered with various flowers, and
chequered with all delightful objects.

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CHAPTER VIII.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.*

THE plants named in this play are Cowslip (Primula veris), Dog rose (Rosa canina), Wild thyme (Thymus Serpyllum), Oxlip (Primula elatior), Violet (Viola odorata), Woodbine (Lonicera periclyminum), Musk rose (Rosa moschata), Eglantine (Rosa rubiginosa), Apricot (Prunus armeria), Dewberries (Rubus caesius), Knot grass (Polyganum aviculare), Garlick (Allium sativum). Act ii. Scene 1. Enter Fairy and Puck.

Puck. How now, spirit! whither wander you?
Fairy. Over hill, over dale,
Through bush, through briar,
Over park, over pale,
Through flood, through fire,
I do wander every where,
Swifter than the moon's sphere ;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green :
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see.

* First printed in 1600. 4to.

Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours:

I must go seek some dew-drops here

And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

Puck. The king doth keep his revels here to-night.
Take heed the queen come not within his sight;
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy stol'n from an Indian king:
She never had so sweet a changeling;
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forest wild;

But she, perforce, withholds the loved boy,

Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy :
And now they never meet in grove or green,

By fountain clear, or spangled star-light sheen,
But they do square, that all their elves, for fear,
Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there.

The acorn is well known to be the fruit of the oak, and the cup which holds it is of a beautiful shape. The poet could not have chosen a more suitable object for fairy elves to hide in.

In As you like it, Act iii. Scene 2, Celia speaking to Rosalind of Orlando, says :

It is as easy to count atomies, as to resolve the propositions of a lover: but take a taste of my finding him, and relish it with good observance. I found him under a tree, like a dropp'd

acorn.

Rosalind. It may

fruit.

well be called Jove's tree, when it drops such

In Act ii. Scene 2 :

Oberon. Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.