PREFACE 
ORE than one author has written a treatise on 
1 A Shakespeare’s flowers, and more than one has 
achieved success. The small books with coloured 
illustrations, of which there are many more or less 
artistic, cannot be counted in this category. They 
are not meant to be aids to serious study. The first 
to attempt a volume of the latter kind was Sidney 
Beisley, who wrote “ Shakespeare’s Garden ” in 1864. 
He was followed by a series of essays in the “ Garden” 
by the Rev. Henry Ellacombe in 1876, and these were 
republished in book form in 1878 by Pollard, of Exeter, 
and reprinted in 1884 (Satshell and Co., London), and 
again in 1896 (Arnold, London), while in 1883 George 
H. Grindon’s “ Shakespeare Flora ” appeared (Palmer 
and Howe, Manchester). 
The present volume is cast in the form of a 
calendar, and, month by month, the trees, shrubs, 
and flowers coming to perfection at that particular 
time of the year are duly treated. As a rule, the 
time of flowering is considered the time of perfection 
also ; but certain exceptions are made in favour of 
well-known fruits, whether British or foreign. This 
