198 PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
widow—and, more than all, the softness of the mantle, silver- 
grey, and tender, like the down on a bird’s breast, with which 
far away it veils the undulation of the mountains.”— Stones of 
Venice , vol. iii. p. 176. 
©mons. 
(1) And, most dear actors, eat no Onions nor Garlic, for we are to utter 
sweet breath.— Midsummer Night's Dream > iv. 2, 42. 
(2) Mine eyes smell Onions, I shall weep anon : 
Good Tom Drum, lend me a handkercher. 
All’s Well that Ends Well , v. 3, 321. 
(3) Indeed the tears live in Onion that should water this sorrow. 
Antony and Cleopatra , i. 2, 176. 
(4) Look, they weep, 
And I, an ass, am Onion-eyed.— Ibid ., iv. 2, 34. 
(5) And if the boy have not a woman’s gift 
To rain a shower of commanded tears, 
An Onion will do well for such a shift, 
Which in a napkin being close conveyed 
Shall in despite enforce a watery eye. 
Taming of the Shrew> Induction, 1, 124. 
There is no need to say much of the Onion in addition to 
what I have already said on the Garlick and Leek, except to 
note that Onions seem always to have been considered more 
refined food than Leek and Garlick. Homer makes Onions 
an important part of the elegant little repast which Hecamede 
set before Nestor and Machaon— 
“ Before them first a table fair she spread, 
Well polished, and with feet of solid bronze ; 
On this a brazen canister she placed, 
And Onions as a relish to the wine, 
And pale clear honey and pure Barley meal.” 
Iliad , book xi. (Lord Derby’s translation.) 
But in the time of Shakespeare they were not held in such 
esteem, Coghan, writing in 1596, says of them : “Being eaten 
