PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
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unassisted flavour; Hydna , as good as oysters, which they 
very much resemble in taste; Agaricus deliciosus , reminding 
us of tender lamb’s kidneys; the beautiful yellow Chantarelle, 
that kalon kagathon of diet, growing by the bushel, and no 
basket but our own to pick up a few specimens in our way; 
the sweet nutty-flavoured Boletus , in vain calling himself edulis 
when there was none to believe him; the dainty Orcella; the 
Ag. hetherophyllus , which tastes like the crawfish when grilled; 
the Ag. ruber and Ag. virescens, to cook in any way, and 
equally good in all.” 
As to the fairy rings (Nos. i, 2, and 3) a great amount of 
legendary lore was connected with them. Browne notices 
them-— 
“ A pleasant mead 
Where fairies often did their measures tread, 
Which in the meadows makes such circles green 
As if with garlands it had crowned been.”— Britannia’s Pastorals. 
Cowley said— 
“ Where once such fairies dance, 
No grass does ever grow ; ” 
and in Shakespeare’s time the sheep refused to eat the grass 
on the fairy rings (1); I believe they now feed on it, but I 
have not been able to ascertain this with certainty. Others, 
besides the sheep, avoided them. “When the damsels of 
old gathered may-dew on the grass, which they made use of 
to improve their complexions, they left undisturbed such of 
it as they perceived on the fairy-rings, apprehensive that the 
fairies should in revenge destroy their beauty, nor was it 
reckoned safe to put the foot within the rings, lest they 
should be liable to fairies’ power.” —Douce’s Illustrations, 
p. 180. 
fliMlSl? Hoses, see IRoSe. 
