PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
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unknown. The many uses of the Pine—for its timber, pro¬ 
duction of pitch, tar, resin, and turpentine—were well known 
and valued. Shakespeare mentions both pitch and tar. 
UMitfis. 
(1) Romeo . A most coiteous exposition. 
Mercutio . Nay, I am the very Pink of courtesy. 
Romeo. Pink for flower. 
Mercutio. Right. 
Romeo . Why, then is my pump well flowered. 
Romeo and Juliet , ii. 4, 60. 
(2) Pinks of odour faint .—Two Noble Kinsmen , Introd. song. 
To these may perhaps be added the following, from the 
second verse sung by Mariana in “ Measure for Measure,” iv. 
h 337 - 
Hide, oh hide, those hills of snow 
Which thy frozen bosom bears S 
On whose tops the Pinks that grow 
Are of those that April wears. 
The authority is doubtful, but it is attributed to Shakespeare 
in some editions of his poems. 
The Pink or Pincke was, as now, the name of the smaller 
sorts of Carnations, and was generally applied to the single 
sorts. It must have been a very favourite flower, as we may 
gather from the phrase u Pink of courtesy,” which means 
courtesy carried to its highest point ; and from Spenser’s 
pretty comparison— 
“ Her lovely eyes like Pincks but newly spred.” 
Amoretti , Sonnet 64. 
The name has a curious history. It is not, as most of us 
would suppose, derived from the colour, but the colour gets its 
name from the plant. The name (according to Dr. Prior) 
comes through Pinksten (German), from Pentecost, and so was 
originally applied to one species—the Whitsuntide Gilliflower. 
