232 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
pomegranate* 
(1) Go to, sir, you were beaten in Italy for picking a kernel out of a 
Pomegranate .—Alls Well that Ends Well , ii. 3, 275. 
(2) It was the nightingale and not the lark, 
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear ; 
Nightly she sings on yon Pomegranate tree. 1 
Romeo and Juliet, iii. 5, 2. 
(3) Anon, anon, sir, Look down into the Pomegarnet, Ralph. — 1st He7iry 
IV, ii. 4, 41. 
There are few trees that surpass the Pomegranate in interest 
and beauty combined. “Whoever has seen the Pomegmjiate 
in a favourable soil and climate, 
whether as a single shrub or 
grouped many together, has 
seen one of the most beautiful 
of green trees; its spiry shape 
and thick-tufted foliage of vigor¬ 
ous green, each growing shoot 
shaded into tenderer verdure 
and bordered with crimson and 
adorned with the loveliest 
flowers; filmy petals of scarlet 
lustre are put forth from the 
solid crimson cup, and the ripe 
fruit of richest hue and most 
admirable shape.”— Lady Cal- 
cott’s Scripture Herbal. A simpler but more valued testimony 
to the beauty of the Pomegranate is borne in its selection for 
the choicest ornaments on the ark of the Tabernacle, on the 
priest’s vestments, and on the rich capitals of the pillars in the 
Temple of Solomon. 
1 In illustration of Juliet’s speech Mr. Knight very aptly quotes a 
similar remark from Russell’s 11 History of Aleppo,” adding that a “friend 
whose observations as a traveller are as accurate as his descriptions are 
graphic and forcible, informs us that throughout his journeys in the East 
he never heard such a choir of nightingales as in a row of Pomegranate 
trees that skirt the road from Smyrna to Bondjia.” 
