146 PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
(4) In act v., sc. 1, is the encounter between Fluellen and Pistol, when he 
makes the bully eat the Leek; this causes such frequent mention of 
the Leek that it would be necessary to extract the whole scene, 
which, therefore, I will simply refer to in this way. 
We can scarcely understand the very high value that was 
placed on Leeks in olden times. By the Egyptians the plant 
was almost considered sacred, “Porrum et ctepe nefas violare et 
frangere morsu” (Juvenal); we know how Leeks were relished 
in Egypt by the Israelites; and among the Greeks they “appear 
to have constituted so important a part in ancient gardens, that 
the term Trpacnd, or a bed, derived its name from 7rpd<rov, the 
Greek word for Onion,” or Leek 1 (Daubeny); while among the 
Anglo-Saxons it was very much the same. The name is pure 
Anglo-Saxon, and originally meant any vegetable; then it was 
restricted to any bulbous vegetable, before it was finally further 
restricted to our Leek; and “ its importance was considered so 
much above that of any other vegetable, that leac-tun , the Leek- 
garden, became the common name of the kitchen-garden, and 
leac-ward , the Leek-keeper, was used to designate the gardener ” 
(Wright). The plant in those days gave its name to the Broad 
Leek which is our present Leek, the Yne Leek or Onion, the 
Garleek (Garlick), and others of the same tribe, while it was 
applied to other plants of very different families, as the Hollow 
Leek ( Corydalis cava), and the House Leek (Seinfiervivam 
tectoruni). 
It seems to have been considered the hardiest of all flowers. 
In the account of the Great Frost of 1608, “ this one infallible 
token ” is given in proof of its severity. “ The Leek, whose 
courage hath ever been so undaunted that he hath borne up 
his lusty head in all storms, and could never be compelled to 
shrink for hail, snow, frost, or showers, is now by the violence 
and cruelty of this weather beaten unto the earth, being rotted, 
dead, disgraced, and trod upon.” 
Its popularity still continues among the Welsh, by whom it 
1 For a testimony of the high value placed on the Leek by the Greeks 
see a poem on MwAu, in “ Anonymi Carmen de Herbis” in the “Poetre 
Bucolici et didactici.” 
