The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare Part 35

Her fallow leas The Darnel, Hemlock, and rank Fumitory Doth root upon.

_Henry V_, act v, sc. 2 (44).

Of Fumitories we have five species in England, all of them weeds in cultivated grounds and in hedgerows. None of them can be considered garden plants, but they are closely allied to the Corydalis, of which there are several pretty species, and to the very handsome Dielytras, of which one species--D. spectabilis--ranks among the very handsomest of our hardy herbaceous plants. How the plant acquired its name of Fumitory--_fume-terre_, earth-smoke--is not very satisfactorily explained, though many explanations have been given; but that the name was an ancient one we know from the interesting Stockholm ma.n.u.script of the eleventh century published by Mr. J. Pettigrew, and of which a few lines are worth quoting. (The poem is published in the "Archaeologia,"

vol. x.x.x.)--

"Fumiter is erbe, I say, Yt spryngyth i April et in May, In feld, in town, in yard, et gate, Yer lond is fat and good in state, Dun red is his flour Ye erbe smek lik in colowur."

FURZE.

(1) _Ariel._

So I charm'd their ears, That calf-like they my lowing follow'd through Tooth'd Briers, sharp Furzes, p.r.i.c.king Goss, and Thorns.

_Tempest_, act iv, sc. 1 (178).

(2) _Gonzalo._

Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground, long Heath, brown Furze, anything.

_Ibid._, act i, sc. 1 (70).

We now call the Ulex Europaeus either Gorse, or Furze, or Whin; but in the sixteenth century I think that the Furze and Gorse were distinguished (_see_ GORSE), and that the brown Furze was the Ulex. It is a most beautiful plant, and with its golden blossoms and richly scented flowers is the glory of our wilder hill-sides. It is especially a British plant, for though it is found in other parts of Europe, and even in the Azores and Canaries, yet I believe it is nowhere found in such abundance or in such beauty as in England. Gerard says, "The greatest and highest that I did ever see do grow about Excester, in the West Parts of England;" and those that have seen it in Devonshire will agree with him. It seems to luxuriate in the damp, mild climate of Devonshire, and to see it in full flower as it covers the low hills that abut upon the Channel between Ilfracombe and Clovelly is a sight to be long remembered. It is, indeed, a plant that we may well be proud of.

Linnaeus could only grow it in a greenhouse, and there is a well-known story of Dillenius that when he first saw the Furze in blossom in England he fell on his knees and thanked G.o.d for sparing his life to see so beautiful a part of His creation. The story may be apocryphal, but we have a later testimony from another celebrated traveller who had seen the glories of tropical scenery, and yet was faithful to the beauties of the wild scenery of England. Mr. Wallace bears this testimony: "I have never seen in the tropics such brilliant ma.s.ses of colour as even England can show in her Furze-clad commons, her glades of Wild Hyacinths, her fields of Poppies, her meadows of b.u.t.tercups and Orchises, carpets of yellow, purple, azure blue, and fiery crimson, which the tropics can rarely exhibit. We have smaller ma.s.ses of colour in our Hawthorns and Crab trees, our Holly and Mountain Ash, our Broom, Foxgloves, Primroses, and purple Vetches, which clothe with gay colours the length and breadth of our land" ("Malayan Archipelago," ii. 296).

As a garden shrub the Furze may be grown either as a single lawn shrub or in the hedge or shrubbery. Everywhere it will be handsome both in its single and double varieties, and as it bears the knife well, it can be kept within limits. The upright Irish form also makes an elegant shrub, but does not flower so freely as the typical plant.

GARLICK.

(1) _Bottom._

And, most clear actors, eat no Onions nor Garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath.

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iv, sc. 2 (42).

(2) _Lucio._

He would mouth with a beggar, though she smelt brown bread and Garlic.

_Measure for Measure_, act iii, sc. 2 (193).

(3) _Hotspur._

I had rather live With cheese and Garlic in a windmill.

_1st Henry IV_, act iii, sc. 1 (161).

(4) _Menenius._

You that stood so much Upon the voice of occupation, and The breath of Garlic-eaters.

_Coriola.n.u.s_, act iv, sc. 6 (96).

(5) _Dorcas._

Mopsa must be your mistress; marry, Garlic to mend her kissing with.

_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 4 (162).

There is something almost mysterious in the Garlick that it should be so thoroughly acceptable, almost indispensable, to many thousands, while to others it is so horribly offensive as to be unbearable. The Garlick of Egypt was one of the delicacies that the Israelites looked back to with fond regret, and we know from Herodotus that it was the daily food of the Egyptian labourer; yet, in later times, the Mohammedan legend recorded that "when Satan stepped out from the Garden of Eden after the fall of man, Garlick sprung up from the spot where he placed his left foot, and Onions from that which his right foot touched, on which account, perhaps, Mohammed habitually fainted at the sight of either."

It was the common food also of the Roman labourer, but Horace could only wonder at the "dura messorum illia" that could digest the plant "cicutis allium nocentius." It was, and is the same with its medical virtues.

According to some it was possessed of every virtue,[102:1] so that it had the name of Poor Man's Treacle (the word treacle not having its present meaning, but being the Anglicised form of theriake, or heal-all[103:1]); while, on the other hand, Gerard affirmed "it yieldeth to the body no nourishment at all; it ingendreth naughty and sharpe bloud."

Bullein describes it quaintly: "It is a grosse kinde of medicine, verye unpleasant for fayre Ladies and tender Lilly Rose colloured damsels which often time profereth sweet breathes before gentle wordes, but both would do very well" ("Book of Simples"). Yet if we could only divest it of its evil smell, the wild Wood Garlick would rank among the most beautiful of our British plants. Its wide leaves are very similar to those of the Lily of the Valley, and its starry flowers are of the very purest white. But it defies picking, and where it grows it generally takes full possession, so that I have known several woods--especially on the Cotswold Hills--that are to be avoided when the plant is in flower.

The woods are closely carpeted with them, and every step you take brings out their ftid odour. There are many species grown in the gardens, some of which are even very sweet smelling (as A. odorum and A.

fragrans); but these are the exceptions, and even these have the Garlick scent in their leaves and roots. Of the rest many are very pretty and worth growing, but they are all more or less tainted with the evil habits of the family.

FOOTNOTES:

[102:1] "You (_i.e._, citizens) are still sending to the apothecaries, and still crying out to 'fetch Master Doctor to me;' but our (_i.e._, countrymen's) apothecary's shop is our garden full of pot herbs, and our doctor is a good clove of Garlic."--_The Great Frost of January, 1608._

[103:1]

"Crist, which that is to every harm triacle."

CHAUCER, _Man of Lawes Tale_.

"Treacle was there anone forthe brought."

_Le Morte Arthur_, 864.