134 NEW PUBLTCATIOXd. 
pears earlier iu the spring " than that of the Crowfoots. But it cer- 
tainly contributes very little to '* paint the meadow with delight;" for 
it is found in damp hedgebanks and dark corners, and its buds are of 
a dismal greenish hue. We hold with Miller that the poet meant 
iJ. acrisy Linn., and hulbosus^ Linn. 
The carelessness with which he quotes is astonishing. As one among 
many instances of it, we find him, at p. 54, represent Hotspur as making 
tipon the King the remarks fhat he make^ upon Owen Glendower, in 
the speech : 
*' I cannot clioose : sometimes he angers me." 
Page 81. He tells us that the "Pale Primrose" [Primtda vulgaris^ 
Linn.] has a sweeter fragrance than the yellow, and that "its leaves are 
of a darker green." Some of our minor artists exhibit every year a 
countless nuijaber of birds' nests, lying among Primroses that are 
painted pea-green, but as they grow in the hedges, they are every- 
where of the same " pale Primrose " colour. 
Page 93. *' Spear-grass," he tells us, is the Sneezewort, Achill<sa 
Ptarmica, and this the same as the " Yarrow or Nosebleed " of Gerarde, 
Lyte, and other herbalists- He has confused together two different 
plants. It is the A. Millefolium, Linn., that those writers call "Yarrow." 
By " Spear-grass " we believe that Shakspeare meant the common Reed 
[Phragmites commtinis, Linn.]. 
Page 101. He says that the Acorns Calamus v^n^ probably the plant 
used under the name of "Rush" to strew floors. There is no reason to 
> 
think so. It was never suflBcientlv common, and it was never called 
"Rush." Indeed the author himself quotes from Dr. BuUeyn the re- 
mark, that " Rushes that grow upon dry grounds be good to strew in 
halls, chambers, and galleries, to walke upon." The Acorus Calamus 
never grows but in wet ground, in stagnant water, or by the sides of 
rivers. It may have been used in exceptional cases, but is not the 
plant to which the herbalists refer. 
Page 126. He confuses the acorn of the English Oak with the sweet 
fruit of the Quercus Ballola, L-, which Strabo and Pliny represent as 
having been the food of man in Spain. No human being could have 
lived on the mast of Q. Rohur, 
Page 137. He speaks of the Harebell, EyacintJius non-scriptiis, as 
blooming " with the Primrose " in May and June, We think he will 
