70 



" Unruly blasts wait on the tender spring, 

 Unwholesome weeds take root with precious flowers.' 



Rape of Lucrece. 



" We see the appearing buds, which to prove fruit, 

 Hope gives not so much warrant as despair." 



2nd Henry, Act I. Sc. 3. 



" Oh that this good blossom could be kept from cankers ! " 



2iid Henry IV., Act II., Sc. 2. 



" Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds." 



2nd Henry IV., Act IV., Sc. 4. 



and many others might be added. 



In the early summer flowers, there are also three very remarkable omissions. 

 Shakespeare makes no mention of the Lily of the Valley, the Forget-me-not, or 

 the Foxglove. They are all flowers that one would think a poet could scarcely 

 forget. The Lily of the Valley and tVie Snowdrop are the true emblems of inno- 

 cence and purity. In vain do horticulturists try to tint their white blossoms with 

 colour. They have, indeed, doubled the snowdrop, but the lily refuses to alter its 

 size or part with its scent. The Forget-me-not is equally lovely, and the Fox- 

 glove strikingly handsome, but he seems not to have seen much of them, since he 

 has left them entirely unnoticed. 



There is abundant allusion to summer flowers and plants — 



" In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and white. 

 Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroideiy." 



Alei-ry Wives of Windsor, Act V., Sc. 5. 



" The fairest flowers o' the season 

 Are our carnations and streak'd gilliflowers.'' 



Winter's Tale, Act IV., Sc. 3. 



" Herewith fantastic garlands did she make 

 Of corn-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples." 



Hamlet, Act IV., Sc. 7. 



Here is a summer picture with an admirable .simile, where Hero sends Margaret 

 to Beatrice — 



" And bid her steal into the pleached bower. 

 Where honeysuckles, ripen'd by the sun. 

 Forbid the sun to enter ; — like favourites 

 Made proud by princes, that advance their pride 

 Against that power that bred it." 



Much Ado about Nothing, Act. III., Sc. i. 



" Here's flowers for you ; 

 Hot lavenders, mints, savory, marjoram ; 

 The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun. 

 And with him rises weeping." 



Winter's, Tale, Act IV., Sc. 3. 



The effects of neglected agriculture are graphically described in Kinrj Henry V. 

 as the result of long-continued war in France. Its literal truthfulness our Presi- 

 dent can vouch for, since we visited together, last year, an unoccupied farm in 



