SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 
127 
kept, and it is our pleasing duty this month to trace 
some of these by aid of Shakespeare’s genius. 
It may be biting cold, it may be merely damp and 
uncomfortable, but what matter the atmospheric 
conditions, the whirling, twirling, eddying snow¬ 
flakes, or the sobbing of the wind moaning round 
the chimne}r-stacks, till it seems the very sighing of 
lost souls, so that within both palace and cot the warm, 
bright firelight throws its glinting beams, lighting up 
with mellow beauty the rough flooring, and homely 
furniture of the one, or the ancestral portraits, gazing 
from their gilded frames, of the other. Over both 
garlands of holly and ivy, box and bay, laurel and 
mistletoe, may be found. Fitting resting-places for 
the sylvan spirits driven from their native woodlands 
by lack of cover from the nipping frosts. Or, if we 
would seek a Christian symbol in this so-called 
Christian land, surely the shining leaves and glossy 
berries can teach us eternal hope. 
The royal place among the evergreens is truly 
assigned to the holly, with its leaves smooth or 
prickly, variegated or plain, its berries yellow or red; 
in all its forms it stands easily first. 
From the earliest times—indeed from ancient 
temple worship—decking of house and sanctuary 
with evergreens has come, and as the temples of old 
were twined with the several flowers, shrubs, and 
garlands sacred to their god, so are our homes and 
churches to-day. The plants dedicated to some of 
the chief deities are thus assigned by Shakespeare’s 
contemporary, Greene— 
Apollo’s heliotropion then shall stoop, 
And Venus’ hyacinth shall vail her top, 
Juno shall shut her gilliflowers up, 
And Pallas’ bay shall bush her brightest green ; 
Ceres’ carnation in consort with those 
Shall stoop and wonder at Diana’s rose. 
Friar Bacon. 
