62 THE BOOK OF HERBS 



And now and then among, of eglantine a spray, 

 By which again a course of lady-smocks they lay. 



Song XV. 



The honeysuckle round the porch has wov'n its wavy bowers, 

 And by the meadow-trenches blow the faint, sweet cuckoo flowers. 

 And the wild march-marigold shines like fire on swamps and hollows 

 gray. 



The May Queen. — Tennyson. 



" Cuckoo-flower " is a name laid claim to by many 

 flowers, and authorities differ as to which one Shake- 

 speare meant by it. Certainly not the plant under 

 discussion, which is the one we most generally call 

 Cuckoo-flower to-day, for there can be no doubt that 

 this is the " lady's-smocks " of the line above, — letting 

 alone the fact that the "cuckoo-buds" in the song being of 

 ' ' yellow hue " put the idea out of court. Lord Tennyson's 

 lines point equally clearly to the Cardamine pratensis. 

 Lady's-smock is said to be a corruption of " Our Lady's 

 Smock," and to be one of the plants dedicated to the 

 Virgin, because it comes into blossom about Ladytide ; 

 though as a matter of fact the flower is seldom seen so 

 early. It is remarkable how m'any attentions this grace- 

 ful, but humble and scentless flower has received ; and 

 besides all the poets Isaac "Walton mentions it twice : 

 " Look ! down at the bottom of the hill there, in that 

 meadow, chequered with water-lilies and lady-smocks." ^ 

 And later : " Looking on the hills, I could behold them 

 spotted with wood and groves — looking down in the 

 meadow, could see there a boy gathering lilies and 

 lady's-smocks, and there, a girl cropping culverkeys and 

 cowslips, all to make garlands suitable to this present 

 month of May." It is difficult to be positive about 

 culverkeys. Columbines, bluebells, primroses and an 

 orchis have all been called by this name at different 

 times. The primrose is cut out of the question here 

 by its colour, for in the poem which has been quoted a 



1 Complete Angler. 



