Bachelor's Button. 
What say you to young Master Fenton ? he capers, he dances, he has eyes 
of youth, he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he smells April and May ; 
he will carry’t, he will carry’t; ’tis in his Buttons ; he will carry’t. 
Merry Wives , iii. 2, 67. 
ACHELOR’S BUTTON, although not ex¬ 
actly named by Shakespeare, is believed to 
be alluded to in this passage; and the sup¬ 
posed allusion is to a rustic divination by 
means of the flowers, carried in the pocket 
by men and under the apron by women, as 
it was supposed to retain or lose its freshness according to the 
good or bad success of the bearer’s amatory prospects.” 1 
The true Bachelor’s Button of the present day is the double 
Ranunculus acris , but the name is applied very loosely to 
almost any small double globular flowers. In Shakespeare’s 
time it was probably applied still more loosely to any flowers 
in bud (according to the derivation from the French bouton). 
Button is frequently so applied by the old writers—• 
“ The more desire had I to goo 
Unto the roser where that grewe 
The freshe Bothum so bright of hewe. 
• ••••• 
But o thing lyked me right welle; 
I was so nygh, I myght fele 
Of the Bothom the swote odour 
And also see the fresshe colour ; 
And that right gretly liked me .”—Romaunt of the Rose. 
1 Mr. J. Fitchett Marsh, of Hardwicke House, Chepstow, in “The 
Garden.” I have to thank Mr. Marsh for much information kindly given 
both in “The Garden” and by letter. 
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