102 "long-purples" of shakspeare. [April, 



" LONG-PUEPLES " OF SHAKSPEAEE. 



If your correspondent E. M. A. had ever diligently inquired 

 in the vicinity of Stratford-on-Avon, where Shakspeare spent his 

 youth, the plant the bard intended would have been at once 

 identified. A very finely developed Orchis mascula is as good 

 a " Long-Purple " as any critic could desire, and moreoA^er it 

 agrees in its flowering-time with the other plants of Ophelia's 

 garland — Crow-flowers, dead Nettles, and Daisies ; while the 

 Lythrum Salicaria shows itself in purple array at a much later 

 date. The name " Long- purple " is applied by rustics to several 

 common plants, and the Lythrum has it locally, as mentioned by 

 the Northamptonshire poet, Clare — 



" And oft Long-purples on the water's brink, 

 Have tempted me to wade, in spite of fate, 

 To pluck the flowers." 



But though several plants bear the vernacular appellation of 

 " Long-purples," we can only truly identify the flower of Ophe- 

 lia's garland by the " grosser name " given to it, according to the 

 bard, by " liberal," or rather I should say, vulgar " shepherds." 

 This at once decides the point. When spending a fortnight in 

 the country near Stratford a few years ago, I got up some me- 

 moranda in reference to the " Rural Haunts of Shakspeare," as 

 may be seen on the table at the Poet's birth-place at the present 

 moment. I was careful to inquire as to the plants mentioned 

 by the great dramatist, and arrived at the conclusion that the 

 Long-purple, or common Purple Orchis {Orchis mascula), still 

 answers to what Shakspeare has averred respecting it of plain- 

 speaking rustics and " cold maids." This " grosser name," yet 

 applied to the Orchis in the country, has, I believe, never been 

 brought into view by any of the legion of commentators ; and I 

 am sorry that as it is not quite adapted to appear in type, I must 

 veil it with the same ingenuity that the poet did in Hamlet, 

 though in some of his other plays he has not been quite so care- 

 ful. But here the modesty of a cold maid about to take a cold 

 and melancholy plunge, had to be considered. I give the name 

 in confidence to your private ear, and those not perfectly satisfied 

 on the subject will probably be so if they consult any of the old 

 Herbals, where the English Orchises and their alleged " virtues " 

 are enumerated, as well as their common names given. 



Edwin Lees. 



