used by the liberal shepherds in the sixteenth century.

The note on this plant in Johnson and Steevens' edition of Shakspere,' states that 'by long purples is meant the Orchis morio mas, and that in Sussex it is still called dead men's hands.' This is clearly a mistake, as the Orchis morio has not palmated roots; the flowers are greenish-white, with blue spots, and it blossoms in June; the common name is greenwinged meadow orchis.

In Much Ado about Nothing, Act ii. Scene 1, Benedick asks Claudio to go with him,—

Even to the next willow, about his own business.
Count, what fashion will you wear the garland of?

*

Willow crowns are referred to in the following passage from Dr. Bulleyn's 'Book of Sick Men and Medicines,' fol. 23: The amorous Lady Erato, with her sweete songs of lovers' delight, whose tunes are of such heavenly virtue, equal to the angels, which have such force that they will banish

* I consider this reading correct as it is given above.

Ophelia made her garlands of flowers arranged on the branch of the willow, shaped like a coronet ; and in one of the following lines it is so called when she attempts to hang it on the pendant boughs. Mr. Knight gives the line as follows:

There, with fantastic garlands did she come;

but he forgot that a garland is a wreath or chaplet made of branches with flowers to be worn on the head like a crown or coronet.

M

all lovers' weeping looks, and make each amorous subject or prisoner free to themselves, without mistrust, casting from them their cold willow crownes of mourning.'

The willow garland is noticed by Westmacott in his Scripture Herbal,' 1695. He calls it 'Willow or chaste tree,' and adds: 'He which is deprived of his love must wear a willow garland, which custom still continues in some places, though now 'tis adorned with a variety of flowers and ribbands about the garland, perhaps of quite a contrary nature to the chaste tree or willow.' Nicander calls the willow 'Casta salix.'

In the Willow Song' in Othello, Act iv. Scene 3, there is the following line, with others, taken from a song then known as A Lover's Complaint,' being forsaken of his love:

с

Sing all a green willow must be my garland.

C

Fuller, in his Worthies,' speaks thus of willows: 'A sad tree, whereof such as have lost their love, make their mourning garlands; and we know what exiles hung up their harps upon such doleful supporters.'

CHAPTER XXVI.

OTHELLO.*

HE plants named in this play are Locusts, Coloquintida (Cucumis Colocynthis), Poppy (Papaver somniferum), and Mandragora.

In Act i. Scene 3, Iago, speaking to Roderigo of his determination to excite the jealousy of Othello, says:

These Moors are changeable in their wills: fill thy purse with money; the food that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida.

Locusts. It appears from the books I have referred to that the locusts above named are the fruit of the Carob tree (Siliqua dulcis). It is fully described by Gerarde in his 'Herball,' where he says:The carob groweth in Apulia, a province of Naples, and other countries eastward, where the cods are so full of sweet juice that it is

*First printed in 1622. 4to.

used to preserve ginger. It groweth also in sundry places in Palestine, where there is such plenty of it that it is left unto swine and other wild beasts to feed on. Moreover, both young and old feed thereon for pleasure, and some have eaten thereof to supply and keep the necessary nutriment of their bodies. This is of some called St. John's bread, and thought to be that which is translated locusts, whereon St. John did feed when he was in the wilderness. The fruit or cod is called siliqua dulcis.'

The Arabic name, Kharrub, and the English of it, as given in Cotafogo's 'Dictionary,' is Carobs, Bean pods, the bread of St. John in the wilderness, or of the prodigal son.

Coloquintida is the Cucumus Colocynthis, the colocynth gourd, or bitter cucumber. From the fruit of this plant is obtained the well-known bitter and purgative drug, colocynth. The plant was cultivated in England, and noticed by the medical writers of Shakspere's time; and they speak of it as having a very loathsome and bitter taste, hot, and dry in the third degree.

Gerarde says: 'It hath been divers times reported to me that they do grow in the sands of the Mediterranean sea shore, wilde, for every man to gather that list, especially on the coast of Barbary.' Coloquintida was used in medicine at an early period,

and Bartholomæus notices it as a maner her be that is most bitter, and called Cucurbita agrestis, and like to the common gourd.'

Lily, in his Euphues,' says: One leaf of coloquintida marreth and spoileth the whole pot of porredge.'*

In Act iii. Scene 3, Iago alone having taken the handkerchief from Emilia, says:—

I will in Cassio's lodging lose this napkin,
And let him find it. Trifles light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong

As proofs of Holy Writ. This may do something;
The Moor already changes with my poison:
Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons,
Which, at the first, are scarce found to distaste;
But with a little act upon the blood,

Burn like the mines of sulphur. I did say so-
Look, where he comes! Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,

Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep

Which thou ow'dst yesterday.

Poppy (Papaver somniferum, Opium poppy). This plant is an annual common in gardens, and occasionally found in waste grounds. The capsules yield a juice from which opium is prepared. The flowers are white, and appear in July and August. Opium was used in Shakspere's time to produce

*Shakspere very consistently couples locusts and coloquintida in expressing the Moor's habits, for both grow in Morocco, and no two things are more opposite in their nature.