92 
SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 
The unripe green fruit is mentioned in Venus and 
Adonis, 527 ; ripe plums in Merry Wives of Windsor, 
V. iv. ;* while stewed prunes are named in the same 
play, I. i. 295, 1 Henry IV., TII. iii. 128; Measure for 
Measure, II. i. 93 ; the uncooked fruit in Winter s 
Tale, IV. iii. 51 ; mouldy prunes in 2 Henry IV., 
II. iv. 158. 
The damason, or damson, a word derived from 
“ Damascus ” (Fr. damascene ), is no doubt an Eastern 
variety of the common plum ( Primus domestica, L.), 
now regarded as a species distinct from our wild 
blackthorn, or sloe and bullace (P. spinosa, L., and 
P. insititia, Huds.). As Ellacombe remarks (pp. 230, 
231), it is very strange that Shakespeare should not 
mention the blackthorn, with its showy masses of 
white flowers against its dark stems, its name applied 
to the cold spell of the end of March (“ the black¬ 
thorn winter ”) or to the proverbs which its fruit 
gives a point to—“As black as a sloe ” or “Not 
worth a sloe”; though, in spite of the proverb, the 
fruit had its value, and still has in the manufacture 
of the liqueur fast coming into favour, “ sloe gin.” 
Blackberries are the delicious fruit (technically an 
etaerio of drupes) of various brambles (Rubi), a class 
of very difficult plants, much given to minute varia¬ 
tion, and which none but a specialist may hope to 
thoroughly master. At the present time, according 
to the Rev. W. Moyle Rogers, we have ninety-nine 
perfectly distinct kinds natives of our islands, and 
many of these have several named varieties, f It must 
not be forgotten that the common raspberry is a 
bramble (Rubus idceus, L.), and a native of our 
woodlands. 
Before quoting Shakespeare's words, a few short 
lines of Lilly’s (from his “ Campaspe,” 1584, II. ii.) 
* Omitted in the Globe edition. 
f “ Lond. Cat. Brit. PL,” 1893, 9 *h ec f 
