The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare Part 17

The Cedar stoops not to the base shrub's foot, But low shrubs wither at the Cedar's root.

_Lucrece_ (664).

The Cedar is the cla.s.sical type of majesty and grandeur, and superiority to everything that is petty and mean. So Shakespeare uses it, and only in this way; for it is very certain he never saw a living specimen of the Cedar of Lebanon. But many travellers in the East had seen it and minutely described it, and from their descriptions he derived his knowledge of the tree; but not only, and probably not chiefly from travellers, for he was well acquainted with his Bible, and there he would meet with many a pa.s.sage that dwelt on the glories of the Cedar, and told how it was the king of trees, so that "the Fir trees were not like his boughs, and the Chestnut trees were not like his branches, nor any tree in the garden of G.o.d was like unto him in his beauty, fair by the mult.i.tude of his branches, so that all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of G.o.d envied him" (Ezekiel x.x.xi. 8, 9). It was such descriptions as these that supplied Shakespeare with his imagery, and which made our ancestors try to introduce the tree into England. But there seems to have been much difficulty in establishing it. Evelyn tried to introduce it, but did not succeed at first, and the tree is not mentioned in his "Sylva" of 1664. It was, however, certainly introduced in 1676, when it appears, from the gardeners' accounts, to have been planted at Bretby Park, Derbyshire ("Gardener's Chronicle," January, 1877). I believe this is the oldest certain record of the planting of the Cedar in England, the next oldest being the trees in Chelsea Botanic Gardens, which were certainly planted in 1683. Since that time the tree has proved so suitable to the English soil that it is grown everywhere, and everywhere a.s.serts itself as the king of evergreen trees, whether grown as a single tree on a lawn, or mixed in large numbers with other trees, as at Highclere Park, in Hampshire (Lord Carnarvon's). Among English Cedar trees there are probably none that surpa.s.s the fine specimens at Warwick Castle, which owe, however, much of their beauty to their position on the narrow strip of land between the Castle and the river. I mention these to call attention to the pleasant coincidence (for it is nothing more) that the most striking descriptions of the Cedar are given by Shakespeare to the then owner of the princely Castle of Warwick (Nos. 3 and 4).

The mediaeval belief about the Cedar was that its wood was imperishable.

"Haec Cedrus, A{e} sydyretre, et est talis nature quod nunquam putrescet in aqua nec in terra" (English Vocabulary--15th cent.); but as a timber tree the English-grown Cedar has not answered to its old reputation, so that Dr. Lindley called it "the worthless though magnificent Cedar of Lebanon."

CHERRY.

(1) _Helena._

So we grew together, Like to a double Cherry, seeming parted, But yet a union in part.i.tion; Two lovely berries moulded on one stem.

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iii, sc. 2 (208).

(2) _Demetrius._

O, how ripe in show Thy lips, those kissing Cherries, tempting grow!

_Ibid._, act iii, sc. 2 (139).

(3) _Constance._

And it' grandam will Give it a Plum, a Cherry, and a Fig.

_King John_, act ii, sc. 1 (161).

(4) _Lady._

'Tis as like you As Cherry is to Cherry.

_Henry VIII_, act v, sc. 1 (170).

(5) _Gower._

She with her neeld composes Nature's own shape of bud, bird, branch, or berry; That even her art sisters the natural Roses, Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied Cherry.

_Pericles_, act v, chorus (5).

(6) _Dromio of Syracuse._

Some devils ask but the paring of one's nail, A Rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin, A Nut, a Cherry-stone.

_Comedy of Errors_, act iv, sc. 3 (72).

(7) _Queen._

Oh, when The twyning Cherries shall their sweetness fall Upon thy tasteful lips.

_Two n.o.ble Kinsmen_, act i, sc. 1 (198).

(8)

When he was by, the birds such pleasure took, That some would sing, some other in their bills Would bring him Mulberries and ripe-red Cherries.

He fed them with his sight, they him with berries.

_Venus and Adonis_ (1101).

Besides these, there is mention of "cherry lips"[54:1] and "cherry-nose,"[54:2] and the game of "cherry-pit."[54:3] We have the authority of Pliny that the Cherry (_Prunus Cerasus_) was introduced into Italy from Pontus, and by the Romans was introduced into Britain.

It is not, then, a true native, but it has now become completely naturalized in our woods and hedgerows, while the cultivated trees are everywhere favourites for the beauty of their flowers, and their rich and handsome fruit. In Shakespeare's time there were almost as many, and probably as good varieties, as there are now.

FOOTNOTES:

[54:1] _Midsummer Night's Dream_, act v, sc. 1; _Richard III_, act i, sc. 1; _Two n.o.ble Kinsmen_, act iv, sc. 1.

[54:2] _Midsummer Night's Dream_, act v, sc. 1.

[54:3] _Twelfth Night_, act iii, sc. 4.

CHESTNUTS.

(1) _Witch._

A sailor's wife had Chestnuts in her lap, And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd.

_Macbeth_, act i, sc. 3 (4).

(2) _Petruchio._

And do you tell me of a woman's tongue That gives not half so great a blow to hear As will a Chestnut in farmer's fire?