PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
296 
Stover. 
Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep, 
And flat meads thatch’d with Stover, them to keep. 
Tempest , iv. 1, 62. 
In this passage, Stover is probably the bent or dried Grass 
still remaining on the land, but it is the common word for hay 
or straw, or for “ fodder and provision for all sorts of cattle; 
from Estovers , law term, which is so explained in the law 
dictionaries. Both are derived from Estouvier in the old 
French, defined by Roquefort—‘Convenance, necessite, pro¬ 
vision de tout ce qui est necessaire.’”— Nares. The word is 
of frequent occurrence in the writers of the time of Shake¬ 
speare. One quotation from Tusser will be sufficient— 
“ Keepe dry thy straw—” 
u If house-roome will serve thee, lay Stover up drie, 
And everie sort by it selfe for to lie. 
Or stack it for litter if roome be too poore, 
And thatch out the residue, noieng thy door.” 
November s Husbandry. 
Strawberry. 
(1) Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief 
Spotted with Strawberries in your wife’s hand ? 1 
Othello , iii. 3, 434. 
(2) The Strawberry grows underneath the Nettle, 
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best 
Neighbour’d by fruit of baser quality ; 
And so the prince obscured his contemplation 
Under the veil of wildness.— Henry V, i. 1, 60. 
1 “Mrs. Somerville made for me a delicate outline sketch of what is 
called Othello’s house in Venice, and a beautifully coloured copy of his 
shield surmounted by the Doge’s cap, and bearing three Mulberries for 
device—proving the truth of the assertion that the Otelli del Moro were a 
noble Venetian folk, who came originally from the Morea, whose device 
was the Mulberry, the growth of that country, and showing how curious a 
jumble Shakespeare has made both of name and device in calling him a 
Moor , and embroidering his arms on his handkerchief as Strawberries .”— 
F. Kemble’s Records , i. 145. 
