50 PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
(5) She with her neeld composes 
Nature’s own shape of bud, bird, branch, or berry; 
That even her art sisters the natural Roses, 
Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied Cherry. 
Pericles , v, chorus, 5. 
(6) Some devils ask but the paring of one’s nail, 
A Rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin, 
A Nut, a Cherry-stone.— Comedy of Errors, iv. 3, 72. 
(7) Oh, when 
The twyning Cherries shall their sweetness fall 
Upon thy tasteful lips.— Two Noble Kinsmen , i. 1, 198. 
(8) With Cherry lips, and cheeks of damask roses.— Ibid., iv. 1. 
(9) When he was by, the birds such pleasure took, 
That some would sing, some other in their bills 
Would bring him Mulberries and ripe-red Cherries. 
He fed them with his sight, they him with berries. 
Venus and Adonis , 1101. 
Besides these, there is mention of “ cherry lips ” 1 and 
“ cherry-nose,” 2 and the game of “ cherry-pit.” 3 We have 
the authority of Pliny that the Cherry (Primus Cerasus) was 
introduced into Italy from Pontus, and by the Romans was 
introduced into Britain. It is not, then, a true native, but it 
has now become completely naturalized in our woods and 
hedgerows, while the cultivated trees are everywhere favourites 
for the beauty of their flowers, and their rich and handsome 
fruit. In Shakespeare’s time there were almost as many, and 
probably as good varieties, as there are now. 
1 Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1 ; Richard III, i. 1 ; Two Noble 
Kinsmen , iv. 1. 
2 Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1. 
3 Twelfth Night, iii. 4. 
