SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 
11 
rose, in flower towards the end of the month and 
well into May, is another old favourite, the cowslip, 
the Primula veris of Linn., the P. officinalis of Jacq., 
found, like its cousin, throughout Europe, Siberia, and 
reaching into Western Asia and North Africa. It is 
identical with the Herba 'paralysis of Brunfels, and 
with the Verbascidam odoratum of Fuchsius. 
This plant was well known to, and beloved of, the 
poet. Witness the care of his descriptions : 
The freckled cowslip .—Henry V., V. ii. 49. 
Cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops 
I’ the bottom of a cowslip.— Cymbeline, II. ii. 37. 
The cowslips tall her pensioners be : 
In their gold coats spots you see ; 
These be rubies, fairy favours. 
Midsummer-Night's Dream , II. i. 10. 
And yet again the 
Yellow cowslip cheeks.— Ibid., V. i. 339. 
As in the case of the primrose and violet, the 
flower was used for household decoration. The poet 
says : 
The violets, cowslips, and the primroses 
Bear to my closet.— Cymbeline, I. v. 85. 
In the Warwickshire country of to-day the very 
best of wines made in the homesteads is that from 
the dried blossoms—the “ pips,” so called ; and in 
many villages quite a harvest is made by the women 
and children in the cowslip-picking season. 
As with the primrose, so with the cowslip: there is 
much doubt, never really well explained, as to the 
derivation of its names, whether they be cowslip or 
paigle. It should not be forgotten that the “ pen¬ 
sioners ” of the passage were a guard of gentlemen 
with peculiarly sumptuous livery of gold and jewels, 
which Shakespeare doubtless saw first at Kenilworth. 
