74 
SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 
and marsh mallows, are only found in Southern 
Europe. It must not be forgotten that to this order 
belongs the handsome hollyhock of our gardens and 
the cotton ( Gossypium ) of commerce. Only once 
does the poet mention our plant, and that in The 
Tempest , II. i. 143 : 
Gon. Had I plantation of this isle,— 
Ant. He’d sow’t with nettle-seed. 
Seb. Or docks, or mallows. 
Since docks and nettle occur in these lines, we 
will deal with them next. The former are also re¬ 
ferred to in Henry V ., V. ii. 51 : 
And nothing teems 
But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs. 
Prior tells us that the name “ dock ” comes from 
the early English “ docca,” which in iElfric’s glossary 
is given as the equivalent of Latin dillci. It is not 
unlikely, he thinks, to be the plant meant in Latin 
by dorcus , from its healing powers, such as that of 
soothing nettle-stings, as the dills were used to heal 
internal pains, and the word “ rum ex ” is translated 
“ edroc ” in an early glossary. Few of our native 
plants are more stately than the docks ; their hand¬ 
some artistic leaves and lofty flower-stalks, rich in 
varied tints of green, crimson, and brown, commend 
them strongly to the lover of the beautiful. But they 
are terrible weeds to the farmer. To the botanist, 
again, they are of great interest; the peculiar method 
of flowering and seeding give him both trouble and 
pleasure. And, honestly, are not these two things, 
trouble and pleasure, synonyms ? We care little 
for what we easily get, while that which takes trouble 
in the getting is highly valued. We have twelve 
native species and two naturalized, and these vary 
in height from the 6-foot flower-spike of Rumex 
