NOTES BY THE WAY 



"When daisies pied, and violets blue, 

 And lady smocks all silver-white, 

 And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, 



Do paint the meadows with delight." 



They have, in England, the cuckoo-flower, which 

 comes in April and is lilac in color, and the cuckoo- 

 pint, which is much like our " Jack in the pulpit;" 

 but the poet does not refer to either of these (if 

 he did, we would catch him tripping), but to but- 

 tercups, which are called by rural folk in Britain 

 "cuckoo-buds." 



In England the daffodil blooms in February and 

 March; the swallow comes in April usually; hence 

 the truth of Shakespeare's lines: 



"Daffodils, 



That come before the swallow dares, and take 

 The winds of March with beauty." 



The only flaw I notice in Shakespeare's natuial 

 history is in his treatment of the honey-bee, but 

 this was a flaw in the knowledge of the times as 

 well. The history of this insect was not rightly 

 read till long after Shakespeare wrote. He pictures 

 a colony of bees as a kingdom, with 



"A king and officers of sorts " 



(see "Henry V."), whereas a colony of bees is an 



absolute democracy; the rulers and governors and 



"' officers of sorts " are the workers, the masses, the 



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