26 THE BOOK OF HERBS 



Oh I faded flowers of fennel, that will not bloom again 

 For any south wind's calling, for any magic rain. 



The Faun to his Shadoiv. — N. HoPPER. 



"Sow Fennel, sow Sorrow." — Prmierh. 



Few realise from how high an estate fennel has fallen. 

 In Shakespeare's time we have the plainest evidence 

 that it was the recognised emblem of flattery. Ben 

 Jonson's allusion is almost as pointed as Robinson's. 

 It is said that Ophelia's flowers were all chosen for their 

 significance, so, perhaps, it was not by accident that she 

 offers fennel to her brother, in whose ears the cry must 

 have been still ringing, 



" Choose we ; Laertes shall be king ! " 



with the echo : — 



" Caps, hand, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds, 

 ' Laertes shall be king, Laertes king 1 ' " 



Nor was it only in our own land that Fennel had this 

 significance, for Canon Ellacombe quotes an Italian say- 

 ing : "Dare Finocchio" (to give fennel), ineaning "to 

 flatter." As to the reason that fennel should be connected 

 with sorrow, the clue is lost, but the proverb is said still 

 to live in New England. The conversation which takes 

 place in "Piers Plowman," between a priest and a 

 poor woman, illustrates a use to which fennel was put 

 in earlier days. The poor got it. Miss Amherst says, 

 " to relieve the pangs of hunger on fasting days." 

 But it was by no means despised by the rich, for " As 

 much as eight and a half pounds of Fennel seed was 

 bought for the King's Household (Edward I., 1281) for 

 one month's supply." She quotes from the Wardrobe 

 Accounts. Our use either of Common Fennel, or Sweet 

 Fennel, or Finocchio is so limited that the practice of 

 Parkinson's contemporaries shall be quoted. " Fenell 

 is of great use to trim up and strowe upon fish, as also 

 to boyle or put among fish of divers sorts, Cowcumbers 



