132 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 



it is always Shakespeare's epithets are like prisms. 

 Let them tremble in the sunshine and we discover 

 that it is he who knows best." 

 The beautiful song begins: 



When daisies pied and violets blue, 



And lady-smocks all silver white, 

 And cuckoo buds of yellow hue, 



Do paint the meadows with delight, 

 The cuckoo then, on every tree, 



Mocks married men, for thus sings he: 



Cuckoo, 



Cuckoo, Cuckoo or word of fear, 

 Unpleasing to a married ear. 



CUCKOO BUDS (Ranunculus') . It is quite pos- 

 sible that in "cuckoo buds of yellow hue" Shake- 

 speare meant the blossoms of the buttercup or king- 

 cup (called by the country people of Warwickshire 

 horse-blobs). Some authorities claim that cuckoo- 

 buds is intended to represent the lesser celandine, of 

 which Wordsworth was so fond that he wrote three 

 poems to it. Others call cuckoo-buds carmine 

 pratensis; but that could hardly be possible because 

 Shakespeare speaks of "lady-smocks all silver white" 

 in one line and "cuckoo buds of yellow hue" in the 

 succeeding line. 



There is much confusion in the identification of 



