SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 
M 3 
the curious butcher s broom is that referred to. It 
is, moreover, plentiful in a natural state close to 
Shakespeare’s town. The “ groves ” would then be 
the shady copses generally bare of other undergrowth, 
“ broom’d ” by the clustering masses of this shade- 
loving plant, in all ways most suitable to the inatten¬ 
tive wanderings of the distraught lover. 
As said above, it is a most curious plant; the 
apparent rigid leaves are really flattened flower- 
stalks—technically, cladodes—while the leaves are 
mere minute scales, from the axils of which these 
cladodes rise. The flowers are borne on their mid¬ 
rib, and are yellowish with red veins, while the fruit 
is a berry. It is a native of Europe and Western 
Asia ; it grows freely in shady woods and coppices. 
Parkinson tells us of this plant, “ Butchers made 
brooms to sweep their stalls,” but it is called in 
Italian prick-mouse ( pongitopo ). And Dr. Prior 
quotes Lonicerus, “Kraiiterb.” p 204: “Die Weiber 
hencken ihn auch bey das Fleisch, dann er vertreibt 
und halt mit seiner scheusslichen Gestalt die Fleder- 
maiiss darvon ab ”—that is, that it was used much 
as gauze-covers are used to-day to lay over meat to 
protect it from the ravages of bats and mice. 
In the herb-garden rosemary sometimes flowers 
this month, a labiate of great fragrance, and to 
which many medicinal virtues were assigned. It is 
the Rosmarinus officinalis, L., and is summed up in 
the highest praise by old Parkinson : 
“ Rosemary is almost of as great use as bays, as 
well for civill as physical purposes: for civill uses, as 
all doe know, at weddings, funerals, etc., to bestow 
among friends ” (“ Garden of Flowers,” l62<h p. 598). 
It was furthermore used at weddings and perhaps at 
funerals also, and, together with bays, was occasion¬ 
ally gilded. The rosemary appeared to have been 
sometimes dipped in scented water, as in the query. 
