PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
182 
Austarb* 
(1) Doll. They say Poins has a good wit. 
Falstaff. He a good wit ? hang him, baboon ! his wit’s as thick as 
Tewksbury Mustard; there is no more conceit in him than in a 
mallet.— 2nd Henry IV, ii. 4, 260. 
(2) Titania. Pease-blossom ! Cobweb ! Moth ! and Mustardseed ! 
Bottom. Youi name, I beseech you, sir? 
Mustardseed. Mustardseed. 
Bottom. Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well; that 
same cowardly giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman 
of your house : I promise you your kindred hath made my eyes 
water ere now. I desire your more acquaintance, good Master 
Mustardseed.— Midsummer Night’s Dream, iii. 1, 165, 194. 
(3) Bottom. Where’s the Mounsieur Mustardseed? 
Mustardseed. Ready. 
Bottom. Give me your neaf, Mounsieur Mustardseed. Pray you, 
leave your courtesy, good mounsieur. 
Mustardseed. What’s your will ? 
Bottom. Nothing, good mounsieur, but to help Cavalery Cobweb 
to scratch.— Ibid., iv. 1, 18. 
(4) Grumio. 
Katharine. 
Grumio. 
Katharine. 
Grumio. 
Katharine. 
Grumio. 
What say you to a piece of beef and Mustard ? 
A dish that I do love to feed upon. 
Ay, but the Mustard is too hot a little. 
Why then, the beef, and let the Mustard rest. 
Nay then, I will not; you shall have the Mustard, 
Or else you get no beef of Grumio. 
Then both, or one, or anything thou wilt. 
Why then, the Mustard wdthout the beef. 
Taming of the Shrew, iv. 3, 23. 
(5) Rosalind. Where learned you that oath, fool? 
Touchstone. Of a certain knight that swore by his honour they were 
good pancakes, and swore by his honour the Mustard was naught; 
now I’ll stand to it, the pancakes were naught, and the Mustard 
v r as good, yet v r as the knight not forsworn.You 
are not forsworn; no more was this knight swearing by his honour, 
for he never had any ; or if he had, he had sw-orn it away before he 
ever saw those cakes or that Mustard.— As You Like It, i. 2, 65. 
