DEWBERRIES.

Titania.Feed him with Apricocks and Dewberries.
Midsummer Night's Dream, act iii, sc. 1 (169).

The Dewberry (Rubus cæsius) is a handsome fruit, very like the Blackberry, but coming earlier. It has a peculiar sub-acid flavour, which is much admired by some, as it must have been by Titania, who joins it with such fruits as Apricots, Grapes, Figs, and Mulberries. It may be readily distinguished from the Blackberry by the fruit being composed of a few larger drupes, and being covered with a glaucous bloom.

DIAN'S BUD.

Oberon.Be, as thou wast wont to be
(touching her eyes with an herb),
See, as thou wast wont to see;
Dian's Bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power.
Midsummer Night's Dream, act iv, sc. 1 (76).

The same herb is mentioned in act iii, sc. 2 (366)—

Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye,
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error, with his might,
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.

But except in these two passages I believe the herb is not mentioned by any author. It can be nothing but Shakespeare's translation of Artemisia, the herb of Artemis or Diana, a herb of wonderful virtue according to the writers before Shakespeare's day. (See [Wormwood].)