53 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
gar is) there are double and single, blue, white, and red; there 
is the beautiful dwarf A. Pyrenaica , never exceeding six inches 
in height, but of a very rich deep blue; there are the red and 
yellow ones (A. Skinneri and A. for mo s a) from North America ; 
and, to mention no more, there are the lovely A. coerulea and 
the grand A. chrysantha from the Rocky Mountains, certainly 
two of the most desirable acquisitions to our hardy flowers that 
we have had in late years. 
Corn, 
(!) I pry thee take the Cork out of thy mouth, that I may hear thy tidings. 
As You Like It , iii. 2, 213. 
(2) As you’ld thrust a Cork into a hogshead. 
Winter's Tale, iii. 3, 95. 
(3) Bind fast his Corky arms .—King Lear, iii. 7 j 28. 
It is most probable that Shakespeare had no further acquaint¬ 
ance with the Cork tree than his use of Corks. The living 
tree was not introduced into England till the latter part of the 
seventeenth century, yet is very fairly described both by Gerard 
and Parkinson. The Cork, however, was largely imported, and 
was especially used for shoes. Not only did “shoemakers put 
it in shoes and pantofles for warmness sake,” but for its light¬ 
ness it was used for the high-heeled shoes of the fashionable 
ladies. I suppose from the following lines that these shoes 
were a distinguishing part of a bride’s trousseau— 
“Strip off my bride’s array, 
My Cork-shoes from my feet, 
And, gentle mother, be not coy 
To bring my winding sheet.” 
The Bride s Burial —Roxburghe Ballads. 
The Cork tree is a necessary element in all botanic gardens, 
but as an ornamental tree it is not sufficiently distinct from the 
Ilex. Though a native of the South of Europe it is hardy in 
England. 
