PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
237 
And so does Milton— 
“Which no cooling herb 
Or medicinal liquor can asswage, 
Nor breath of vernal air from Snowy Alp ; 
Sleep hath forsook and given me o’er 
To death’s benumming opium as my only cure.” 
Samson Agonistes. 
Many of the Poppies are very ornamental garden plants. 
The pretty yellow Welsh Poppy ( Meconopsis Cambrica ), abund¬ 
ant at Cheddar Cliffs, is an excellent plant for the rockwork, 
where, when once established, it will grow freely and sow 
itself; and for the same place the little Papaver Alpinum , with 
its varieties, is equally well suited. For the open border the 
larger Poppies are very suitable, especially the great Oriental 
Poppy (P, orient ale) and the grand scarlet Siberian Poppy 
(P. bracteatum ), perhaps the most gorgeous of hardy plants: 
while among the rarer species of the tribe we must reckon the 
Meconopses of the Himalayas (M. Wallichi and M. Nepalensis ), 
plants of singular beauty and elegance, but very difficult to 
grow, and still more difficult to keep, even if once established ; 
for though perfectly hardy, they are little more than biennials. 
Besides these Poppies, the large double garden Poppies are 
very showy and of great variety in colour, but they are only 
annuals. 
potato. 
(1) How the devil Luxury, with his fat rump and Potato-finger, tickles 
these together.— Trollies and Cressida , v. 2, 55. 
(2) Let the sky rain Potatoes ; let it thunder to the tune of Green Sleeves, 
hail kissing-comfits, and snow Eringoes .—Merry Wives of Windsor, 
v. 5, 20. 
The chief interest in these two passages is that they contain 
almost the earliest notice of Potatoes after their introduction 
into England. The generally received account is that they 
