_ PART I. THE PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE
ASH, ASPEN, BACHELOR'S BUTTON, BALM, BALSAM, OR BALSAMUM
Aufidius.
Let me twine
Mine arms about that body, where against
My grained Ash an hundred times hath broke,
And starr'd the moon with splinters.
--- Coriolanus, act iv, sc. 5 (112).
Warwickshire is more celebrated for its Oaks and Elms than for its Ash trees. Yet considering how common a tree the Ash is, and in what high estimation it was held by our ancestors, it is strange that it is only mentioned in this one passage. Spenser spoke of it as "the Ash for nothing ill;" it was "the husbandman's tree," from which he got the wood for his agricultural implements; and there was connected with it a great amount of mystic folk-lore, which was carried to its extreme limit in the Yggdrasil, or legendary Ash of Scandinavia, which was almost looked upon as the parent of Creation: a full account of this may be found in Mallet's "Northern Antiquities" and other works on Scandinavia. It is an English native tree,[24:3] and it adds much to the beauty of any English landscape in which it is allowed to grow. It gives its name to many places, especially in the South, as Ashdown, Ashstead, Ashford, &c.; but to see it in its full beauty it must be seen in our northern counties, though the finest in England is said to be at Woburn.
"The Oak, the Ash, and the Ivy tree,
O, they flourished best at hame, in the north countrie."
---
Old Ballad. In the dales of Yorkshire it is especially beautiful, and any one who sees the fine old trees in Wharfdale and Wensleydale will confess that, though it may not have the rich luxuriance of the Oaks and Elms of the southern and midland counties, yet it has a grace and beauty that are all its own, so that we scarcely wonder that Gilpin called it "the Venus of the woods."
FOOTNOTES:
[24:3] It is called in the "Promptorium Parvulorum" "Esche," and the seed vessels "Esche key."
ASPEN.
(1) Marcus.
O, had the monster seen those lily hands
Tremble, like Aspen leaves, upon a lute.
--- Titus Andronicus, act 2, sc. 4 (44).
(2) Hostess.
Feel, masters, how I shake. . . . . Yea, in very truth do I an
'twere an Aspen leaf.
--- 2nd Henry IV, act ii, sc. 4 (114).
The Aspen or Aspe[25:1] (
Populus tremula) is one of our three native Poplars, and has ever been the emblem of enforced restlessness, on account of which it had in Anglo-Saxon times the expressive name of quick-beam. How this perpetual motion in the "light quivering Aspen" is produced has not been quite satisfactorily explained; and the mediaeval legend that it supplied the wood of the Cross, and has never since ceased to tremble, is still told as a sufficient reason both in Scotland and England.
"Oh! a cause more deep,
More solemn far the rustic doth assign,
To the strange restlessness of those wan leaves;
The cross, he deems, the blessed cross, whereon
The meek Redeemer bowed His head to death,
Was formed of Aspen wood; and since that hour
Through all its race the pale tree hath sent down
A thrilling consciousness, a secret awe,
Making them tremulous, when not a breeze
Disturbs the airy thistle-down, or shakes
The light lines of the shining gossamer."
--- MRS. HEMANS.
The Aspen has an interesting botanical history, as being undoubtedly, like the Scotch fir, one of the primaeval trees of Europe; while its grey bark and leaves and its pleasant rustling sound make the tree acceptable in our hedgerows, but otherwise it is not a tree of much use. In Spenser's time it was considered "good for staves;" and before his time the tree must have been more valued than it is now, for in the reign of Henry V. an Act of Parliament was passed (4 Henry V. c. 3) to prevent the consumption of Aspe, otherwise than for the making of arrows, with a penalty of an Hundred Shillings if used for making pattens or clogs. This Act remained in force till the reign of James I., when it was repealed. In our own time the wood is valued for internal panelling of rooms, and is used in the manufacture of gunpowder.
By the older writers the Aspen was the favourite simile for female loquacity. The rude libel is given at full length in "The Schoole-house of Women" (511-545), concluding thus--
"The Aspin lefe hanging where it be,
With little winde or none it shaketh;
A woman's tung in like wise taketh
Little ease and little rest;
For if it should the hart would brest."
--- HAZLITT'S
Popular English Poetry, vol. iv, p. 126.
And to the same effect Gerard concludes his account of the tree thus: "In English Aspe and Aspen tree, and may also be called Tremble, after the French name, considering it is the matter whereof women's tongues were made (as the poets and some others report), which seldom cease wagging."
FOOTNOTES:
[25:1] "Espe" in "Promptorium Parvulorum." "Aspen" is the case-ending of "Aspe."
BACHELOR'S BUTTON.
Hostess.
What say you to young Master Fenton? he capers, he dances, he
has eyes of youth, he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he
smells April and May; he will carry't, he will carry't; 'tis
in his Buttons; he will carry't.
--- Merry Wives, act iii, sc. 2 (67).
"Though the Bachelor's Button is not exactly named by Shakespeare, it is believed to be alluded to in this passage; and the supposed allusion is to a rustic divination by means of the flowers, carried in the pocket by men and under the apron by women, as it was supposed to retain or lose its freshness according to the good or bad success of the bearer's amatory prospects."[27:1]
The true Bachelor's Button of the present day is the double Ranunculus acris, but the name is applied very loosely to almost any small double globular flowers. In Shakespeare's time it was probably applied still more loosely to any flowers in bud (according to the derivation from the French
bouton). Button is frequently so applied by the old writers--
"The more desire had I to goo
Unto the roser where that grewe
The freshe Bothum so bright of hewe.
* * * * *
But o thing lyked me right welle;
I was so nygh, I myght fele
Of the Bothom the swote odour
And also see the fresshe colour;
And that right gretly liked me."
---
Romaunt of the Rose. And by Shakespeare--
The canker galls the infants of the Spring
Too oft before their Buttons be disclosed.
---
Hamlet, act i, sc. 3 (54).
FOOTNOTES:
[27:1] Mr. J. Fitchett Marsh, of Hardwicke House, Chepstow, in "The Garden." I have to thank Mr. Marsh for much information kindly given both in "The Garden" and by letter.
BALM, BALSAM, OR BALSAMUM.
(1) K. Richard.
Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the Balm from an anointed king.
---Richard II, act iii, sc. 2 (54).
(2) K. Richard.
With mine own tears I wash away my Balm.
---Ibid., act iv, sc. 1 (207).
(3) K. Henry.
'Tis not the Balm, the sceptre, and the ball.
--- Henry V, act iv, sc. 1 (277).
(4) K. Henry.
Thy place is fill'd, thy sceptre wrung from thee,
Thy Balm wash'd off, wherewith thou wast anointed.
--- 3rd Henry VI, act iii, sc. 1 (16).
(5) K. Henry.
My pity hath been Balm to heal their wounds.
--- Ibid., act iv, sc. 8 (41).
(6) Lady Anne.
I pour the helpless Balm of my poor eyes.
--- Richard III, act i, sc. 2 (13).
(7) Troilus.
But, saying thus, instead of oil and Balm,
Thou lay'st in every gash that love hath given me
The knife that made it.
--- Troilus and Cressida, act i, sc. 1 (61).
(8) 1st Senator.
We sent to thee, to give thy rages Balm.
--- Timon of Athens, act v, sc. 4 (16).
(9) France.
Balm of your age,
Most best, most dearest.
--- King Lear, act i, sc. 1 (218).
(10) K. Henry.
Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse
Be drops of Balm to sanctify thy head.
--- 2nd Henry IV, act iv, sc. 5 (114).
(11) Mowbray.
I am disgraced, impeach'd, and baffled here:
Pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear;
The which no Balm can cure, but his heart-blood
Which breathed this poison.
--- Richard II, act i, sc. 1 (170).
(12) Dromio of Syracuse.
Our fraughtage, Sir,
I have conveyed aboard, and I have bought
The oil, the Balsamum, and aqua vitae.
--- Comedy of Errors, act iv, sc. 1 (187).
(13) Alcibiades.
Is this the Balsam that the usuring Senate
Pours into captains' wounds?
--- Timon of Athens, act iii, sc. 5 (110).
(14) Macbeth.
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great Nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.
--- Macbeth, act ii, sc. 2 (37).
(15) Quickly.
The several chairs of order look you scour
With juice of Balm and every precious flower.
--- Merry Wives, act v, sc. 5 (65).
(16) Cleopatra.
As sweet as Balm, as soft as air, as gentle.
--- Antony and Cleopatra, act v, sc. 2 (314).
(17)
And trembling in her passion, calls it Balm,
Earth's sovereign salve to do a goddess good.
--- Venus and Adonis (27).
(18)
And drop sweet Balm in Priam's painted wound.
--- Lucrece (1466).
(19)
With the drops of this most balmy time
My love looks fresh.
--- Sonnet cvii.
In all these passages, except the two last, the reference is to the Balm or Balsam which was imported from the East, from very early times, and was highly valued for its curative properties. The origin of Balsam was for a long time a secret, but it is now known to have been the produce of several gum-bearing trees, especially the Pistacia lentiscus and the Balsamodendron Gileadense; and now, as then, the name is not strictly confined to the produce of any one plant. But in Nos. 15 and 16 the reference is no doubt to the Sweet Balm of the English gardens (
Melissa officinalis), a plant highly prized by our ancestors for its medicinal qualities (now known to be of little value), and still valued for its pleasant scent and its high value as a bee plant, which is shown by its old Greek and Latin names, Melissa, Mellissophyllum, and Apiastrum. The Bastard Balm (
Melittis melissophyllum) is a handsome native plant, found sparingly in Devonshire, Hampshire, and a few other places, and is well worth growing wherever it can be induced to grow; but it is a very capricious plant, and is apparently not fond of garden cultivation. "Tres jolie plante, mais d'une culture difficile" (Vilmorin). It probably would thrive best in the shade, as it is found in copses. _