Folk-lore of Shakespeare Part 50

Gerarde, in his "Herbal," says that the damask rose is called by some _Rosa Provincialis_.[549] Mr. Fairholt[550] quotes, from "Friar Bacon's Prophecy" (1604), the following, in allusion to this fas.h.i.+on:

"When roses in the gardens grew, And not in ribbons on a shoe: Now ribbon roses take such place That garden roses want their grace."

[548] Singer's "Shakespeare," 1875, vol. ix. p. 227.

[549] "Notes to Hamlet," Clark and Wright, 1876, p. 179.

[550] "Costume in England," p. 238. At p. 579 the author gives several instances of the extravagances to which this fas.h.i.+on led.

Again, in "King John" (i. 1), where the b.a.s.t.a.r.d alludes to the three-farthing silver pieces of Queen Elizabeth, which were extremely thin, and had the profile of the sovereign, with a rose on the back of her head, there doubtless is a fuller reference to the court fas.h.i.+on of sticking roses in the ear:[551]

"my face so thin, That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose, Lest men should say, 'Look, where three-farthings goes.'"

[551] Some gallants had their ears bored, and wore their mistresses' silken shoe-strings in them. See Singer's "Notes,"

vol. iv. p. 257.

Shakespeare also mentions the use of the rose in rose-cakes and rose-water, the former in "Romeo and Juliet" (v. 1), where Romeo speaks of "old cakes of roses," the latter in "Taming of the Shrew" (Induction, 1):

"Let one attend him with a silver basin Full of rose-water and bestrew'd with flowers."

Referring to its historical lore, we may mention its famous connection with the Wars of the Roses. In the fatal dispute in the Temple Gardens, Somerset, on the part of Lancaster, says ("1 Henry VI." ii. 4):

"Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, But dare maintain the party of the truth, Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me."

Warwick, on the part of York, replies:

"I love no colours, and, without all colour Of base insinuating flattery, I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet."

The trailing white dog-rose is commonly considered to have been the one chosen by the House of York. A writer, however, in the _Quarterly Review_ (vol. cxiv.) has shown that the white rose has a very ancient interest for Englishmen, as, long before the brawl in the Temple Gardens, the flower had been connected with one of the most ancient names of our island. The elder Pliny, in discussing the etymology of the word Albion, suggests that the land may have been so named from the white roses which abounded in it. The York and Lancaster rose, with its pale striped flowers, is a variety of the French rose known as _Rosa Gallica_. It became famous when the two emblematical roses, in the persons of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York, at last brought peace and happiness to the country which had been so long divided by internal warfare. The canker-rose referred to by Shakespeare is the wild dog-rose, a name occasionally applied to the common red poppy.

_Rosemary._ This plant was formerly in very high esteem, and was devoted to various uses. It was supposed to strengthen the memory; hence it was regarded as a symbol of remembrance, and on this account was often given to friends. Thus, in "Hamlet" (iv. 5), where Ophelia seems to be addressing Laertes, she says: "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance." In the "Winter's Tale" (iv. 4) rosemary and rue are beautifully put together:

"For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep Seeming and savour all the winter long: Grace and remembrance be to you both, And welcome to our shearing!"

Besides being used at weddings, it was also in request at funerals, probably for its odor, and as a token of remembrance of the deceased.

Thus the Friar, in "Romeo and Juliet" (iv. 5), says:

"Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary On this fair corse."

This practice is thus touchingly alluded to by Gay, in his "Pastorals:"

"To shew their love, the neighbours far and near Followed, with wistful look, the damsel's bier: Sprigg'd rosemary the lads and la.s.ses bore, While dismally the parson walk'd before."

Rosemary, too, was one of the evergreens with which dishes were anciently garnished during the season of Christmas, an allusion to which occurs in "Pericles" (iv. 6): "Marry, come up, my dish of chast.i.ty with rosemary and bays."

_Rush._ Before the introduction of carpets, the floors of churches and houses were strewed with rushes, a custom to which Shakespeare makes several allusions. In "Taming of the Shrew" (iv. 1), Grumio asks: "Is supper ready, the house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept?" and Glendower, in "1 Henry IV." (iii. 1), says:

"She bids you on the wanton rushes lay you down, And rest your gentle head upon her lap."

At the coronation of Henry V. ("2 Henry IV.," v. 5), when the procession is coming, the grooms cry, "More rushes! more rushes!" which seems to have been the usual cry for rushes to be scattered on a pavement or a platform when a procession was approaching.[552] Again, in "Richard II."

(i. 3), the custom is further alluded to by John of Gaunt, who speaks of "the presence strew'd," referring to the presence-chamber. So, too, in "Cymbeline" (ii. 2), Iachimo soliloquizes:

"Tarquin thus Did softly press the rushes, ere he waken'd The chast.i.ty he wounded."

[552] Dyce's "Glossary," p. 373.

And in "Romeo and Juliet" (i. 4), Romeo says:

"Let wantons, light of heart, Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels;"

an expression which Middleton has borrowed in his "Blunt Master Constable," 1602:

"Bid him, whose heart no sorrow feels, Tickle the rushes with his wanton heels, I have too much lead at mine."

In the "Two n.o.ble Kinsmen" (ii. 1) the Gaoler's Daughter is represented carrying "strewings" for the two prisoners' chamber.

Rush-bearings were a sort of rural festival, when the paris.h.i.+oners brought rushes to strew the church.[553]

[553] See Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14.

The "rush-ring" appears to have been a kind of token for plighting of troth among rustic lovers. It was afterwards vilely used, however, for mock-marriages, as appears from one of the Const.i.tutions of Salisbury.

In "All's Well that Ends Well" (ii. 2) there seems a covert allusion to the rush-ring: "As Tib's rush for Tom's fore-finger." Spenser, in the "Shepherd's Kalendar," speaks of

"The knotted rush-rings and gilt Rosemarie."

Du Breul, in his "Antiquities of Paris,"[554] mentions the rush-ring as "a kind of espousal used in France by such persons as meant to live together in a state of concubinage; but in England it was scarcely ever practised except by designing men, for the purpose of corrupting those young women to whom they pretended love."

[554] Douce's "Ill.u.s.trations of Shakespeare," 1839, p. 194.

The "rush candle," which, in times past, was found in nearly every house, and served as a night-light for the rich and candle for the poor, is mentioned in "Taming of the Shrew" (iv. 5):

"be it moon, or sun, or what you please: An if you please to call it a rush candle, Henceforth, I vow, it shall be so for me."

_Saffron._ In the following pa.s.sage ("All's Well that Ends Well," iv.

5) there seems to be an allusion[555] by Lafeu to the fas.h.i.+onable and fantastic custom of wearing yellow, and to that of coloring paste with saffron: "No, no, no, your son was misled with a snipt-taffeta fellow there, whose villanous saffron would have made all the unbaked and doughy youth of a nation in his colour."

[555] Dyce's "Glossary," p. 381.

_Spear-gra.s.s._ This plant-perhaps the common reed-is noticed in "1 Henry IV." (ii. 4) as used for tickling the nose and making it bleed. In Lupton's "Notable Things" it is mentioned as part of a medical recipe: "Whoever is tormented with sciatica or the hip-gout, let them take an herb called spear-gra.s.s, and stamp it, and lay a little thereof upon the grief." Mr. Ellacombe[556] thinks that the plant alluded to is the common couch-gra.s.s (_Tritic.u.m repens_), which is still known in the eastern counties as spear-gra.s.s.

[556] "Plant-Lore of Shakespeare," p. 319.

_Stover._ This word, which is often found in the writings of Shakespeare's day, denotes fodder and provision of all sorts for cattle.

In Cambridges.h.i.+re stover signifies hay made of coa.r.s.e, rank gra.s.s, such as even cows will not eat while it is green. In "The Tempest" (iv. 1), Iris says:

"Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep, And flat meads thatch'd with stover, them to keep."

According to Steevens, stover was used as a thatch for cart-lodges and other buildings that required but cheap coverings.