134 
SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 
The tree is Cupressus sempervirens , L., a native of the 
Levant; it has usually been connected, like the 
yew, with funerals and churchyards, and Sir John 
Mandeville says: “ The Cristene men, that dwellen 
beyond the See, in Grece, seyn that the tre of thee 
Cros, that we callen cypresse, was of that tree that 
Adam ete the appule of” (quoted by Ellacombe, 
p. 69). 
We have wandered from the gay to the grave, 
from the holly to the cypress, and lost sight for a 
while of our Christmas cheer. It may be as well to 
return this time from the decking evergreens to the 
table laden with its fruits—to the golden oranges, 
lemons, and pomegranates, of all of which the poet 
has something to say. 
The orange— naranji , Arabic; early Latinized as 
anarantium, which became anrantium, from its golden 
hue, from whence the French made orangs—(Citrus 
aurantiacus , L.) was introduced into Europe from the 
East Indies at an early date, and gradually became 
known further north: Italy, 1200; Chantilly, 1421; 
Fontainebleau, 1532; England, 1578. Lyte says: 
" In this countrie the Herboristes do set and plant 
orange-trees in their gardens, but they beare no 
fruite without they be wel kept and defended from 
cold, and yet for all that they beare very seldome.” 
Gerard describes them in his “ Herbal,” but had not 
the tree in cultivation until 1599- The tree has 
been considered the golden apple of the Hesperides, 
and the famous fruit of the Judgment of Paris, but, as 
we have said elsewhere, these were in all probability 
quinces. Shakespeare mentions the fruit three times 
as a colour, twice in Midsummer-Night's Dream , 
(I. ii. 95 and III. i. 129), and again in reference to a 
saying still in vogue, “ yellow for jealous ”: 
The count is neither sad nor sick, nor merry, nor well; 
