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PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
Whenever we speak of spring flowers, the first that comes 
into our minds is the Primrose, Both for its simple beauty 
and for its early arrival among us we give it the first place 
over 
“ Whatsoever other flow re of worth 
And whatso other hearb of lovely hew, 
The joyous Spring out of the ground brings forth 
To cloath herself in colours fresh and new. 5 ’ 
It is a plant equally dear to children and their elders, so that 
I cannot believe that there is any one (except Peter Bell) to 
whom 
“ A Primrose by the river’s brim 
A yellow Primrose is to him— 
And it is nothing more ; ” 
rather I should believe that W. Browne’s “ Wayfaring Man ” is 
a type of most English countrymen in their simple admiration 
of the common flower— 
“ As some wayfaring man passing a wood, 
Whose waving top hath long a sea-mark stood, 
Goes jogging on and in his mind nought hath, 
But how the Primrose finely strews the path, 
Or sweetest Violets lay down their heads 
At some tree’s roots or mossy feather-beds.” 
Britannia's Pastorals, i. 5. 
It is the first flower, except perhaps the Daisy, of which a 
child learns the familiar name ; and yet it is a plant of unfailing 
interest to the botanical student, while its name is one of the 
greatest puzzles to the etymologist. The common and easy 
explanation of the name is that it means the first Rose of the 
year, but (like so many explanations that are derived only from 
the sound and modern appearance of a name) this is not the 
true account. The full history of the name is too long to give 
here, but the short account is this—“ The old name was Prime 
Rolles—or primerole. Primerole is an abbreviation of Fr. 
primeverole; It. primaverola, diminutive of prima vera, from 
flor di prima vera , the first spring flower. Primerole, as an 
