PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
249 
will be, but there is a strong concensus of most of the best 
commentators, that the Tappuach of Scripture, always translated 
Apple, was the Quince. It is supposed to be the fruit alluded 
to in the Canticles, “As the Apple tree among the trees of the 
wood, so is my beloved among the sons; I sat down under his 
shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste;” 
and in Proverbs, “ A word fitly spoken is like Apples of gold 
in pictures of silver; ” and the tree is supposed to have given 
its name to various places in Palestine, as Tappuach, Beth- 
Tappuach, and Aen-Tappuach. 
By the Greeks and Romans the Quince was held in honour 
as the fruit especially sacred to Venus, who is often represented 
as holding a Quince in her right hand, the gift which she 
received from Paris. In other sculptures “ the amorous deities 
pull Quinces in gardens and play with them. For persons to 
send Quinces in presents, to throw them at each other, to eat 
them together, were all tokens of love; to dream of Quinces 
was a sign of successful love ” (Rosenmuller). The custom 
was handed down to mediaeval times. It was at a wedding 
feast that “ they called for Dates and Quinces in the pastry; ” 
and Brand quotes a curious passage from the “Praise of 
Musicke,” 1586 (“Romeo and Juliet” was published in 1596) 
—“ I come to marriages, wherein as our ancestors did fondly, 
and with a kind of doating, maintaine many rites and cere¬ 
monies, some whereof were either shadowes or abodements of 
a pleasant life to come, as the eating of a Quince Peare to be 
a preparative of sweet and delightful dayes between the married 
persons.” 
To understand this high repute in which the Quince was 
held, we must remember that the Quince of hot countries 
differs somewhat from the English Quince. With us the fruit 
is of a fine, handsome shape, and of a rich golden colour when 
fully ripe, and of a strong scent, which is very agreeable to 
many, though too heavy and overpowering to others. But the 
rind is rough and woolly, and the flesh is harsh and unpalatable, 
and only fit to be eaten when cooked. I11 hotter countries the 
woolly rind is said to disappear, and the fruit can be eaten raw; 
