indicate neglect in husbandry. The Rumex obtu sifolius, or broad-leaved dock, is one of the mos common of the dock tribe, and the Carduus arvensis is one of the most common thistles. They are truly called Hateful docks and rough thistles, as the docks strike their roots deep into the earth and have numerous seeds which distribute freely and produce abundantly. The thistle also seeds prolificly, and is very troublesome to the husbandman, as the winds scatter them far and wide over the land. Kecksies. The dried withered stems of the hemlock (Conium maculatum), and other umbelliferous plants, are called kecksies. Gerarde and Bulleyn call the stem of hemlock a kex. a proverb light as a kex.' There is Burs, the burdock, see Measure for Measure. Have chid me from the battle; swearing both To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, How many years a mortal man may live. So many hours must I take my rest; So many hours must I sport myself; So many days my ewes have been with young; poor So many years ere I shall shear the fleece; Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave. Ah, what a life were this! how sweet! how lovely! To shepherds, looking on their stilly sheep, And to conclude, the shepherd's homely curds, ! His viands sparkling in a golden cup, His body couched in a curious bed When care, mistrust, and treason wait on him. Hawthorn (Crataegus Oxyacantha). The Whitethorn, or May, as it is often called, grows in hedges, on commons, and in parks, affording, by its thick foliage, sweet shade, as truly described by the poet. It is a favourite tree with shepherds, who commonly seek it for shade from the heat and for shelter in the storm. Milton, in 'L'Allegro,' says:— And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn, in the dale. In the Merry Wives of Windsor, Act iii. Scene 3, Falstaff, speaking to Mrs. Ford, says:— Come I cannot cog, and say thou art this and that, like a many of these lisping hawthorn buds that come like women in men's apparel, and smell like Bucklersbury in simple time. T CHAPTER XIX. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.* HE Onion (Allium Cepa) and Mandragora (Atropa Mandragora) are named in this play. In Act i. Scene 2: Antony. Fulvia is dead. Antony. Fulvia is dead. Enobarbus. Fulvia? Antony. Dead. Eno. Why, sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice. When it pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a man from him, it shows to man the tailors of the earth; comforting therein, that when old robes are worn out there are members to make new. If there were no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case to be lamented; this grief is crowned with consolation; your old smock brings forth a new petticoat: and indeed the tears live in an onion that should water this sorrow. And in Act iv. Scene 2, Enobarbus says to Antony : * First printed in the folio of 1623. |