"Letuce of lac derivyed is perchaunce;
For milk it hath or yeveth abundaunce."
Palladius on Husbandrie, ii, 216 (15th cent.) E. E. Text Soc.
It was cultivated by the Anglo-Saxons, who showed their knowledge of its narcotic qualities by giving it the name of Sleepwort; it is mentioned by Spenser as "cold Lettuce" ("Muiopotmos"). And in Shakespeare's time the sorts cultivated were very similar to, and probably as good as, ours.
LILY.
| (1) | Iris. | Thy banks with Pioned and Lilied[140:1] brims. |
| Tempest, act iv, sc. 1 (64). | ||
| (2) | Launce. | Look you, she is as white as a Lily and as small as a wand. |
| Two Gentlemen of Verona, act ii, sc. 3 (22). | ||
| (3) | Julia. | The air hath starved the Roses in her cheeks, And pinch'd the Lily-tincture of her face. |
| Ibid., act iv, sc. 4 (160). | ||
| (4) | Flute. | Most radiant Pyramus, most Lily-white of hue. |
| Midsummer Night's Dream, act iii, sc. 1 (94). | ||
| (5) | Thisbe. | These Lily lips. |
| Ibid., act v, sc. 1 (337). | ||
| (6) | Perdita. | Lilies of all kinds, The Flower-de-luce being one! |
| Winter's Tale, act iv, sc. 4 (126). | ||
| (7) | Princess. | Now by my maiden honour, yet as pure As the unsullied Lily. |
| Love's Labour's Lost, act v, sc. 2 (351). | ||
| (8) | Queen Katharine. | Like the Lily That once was mistress of the field and flourish'd, I'll hang my head, and perish. |
| Henry VIII, act iii, sc. 1 (151). | ||
| (9) | Cranmer. | Yet a virgin, A most unspotted Lily shall she pass To the ground. |
| Ibid., act v, sc. 5 (61). | ||
| (10) | Troilus. | Give me swift transportance to those fields, Where I may wallow in the Lily beds Proposed for the deserver. |
| Troilus and Cressida, act iii, sc. 2 (12). | ||
| (11) | Marcus. | O, had the monster seen those Lily hands Tremble, like Aspen leaves, upon a lute. |
| Titus Andronicus, act ii, sc. 4 (44). | ||
| (12) | Titus. | Fresh tears Stood on her cheeks as doth the honey-dew Upon a gather'd Lily almost wither'd. |
| Ibid., act iii, sc. 1 (111). | ||
| (13) | Iachimo. | How bravely thou becomest thy bed, fresh Lily! |
| Cymbeline, act ii, sc. 2 (15). | ||
| (14) | Guiderius. | O sweetest, fairest Lily! My brother wears thee not the one half so well, As when thou grew'st thyself. |
| Ibid., act iv, sc. 2 (201). | ||
| (15) | Constance. | Of Nature's gifts thou may'st with Lilies boast, And with the half-blown Rose. |
| King John, act iii, sc. 1 (53). | ||
| (16) | Salisbury. | To gild refined gold, to paint the Lily, To throw a perfume on the Violet, |
| * * * * * | ||
| Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. | ||
| Ibid., act iv, sc. 2 (11). | ||
| (17) | Kent. | A Lily-livered, action-taking knave. |
| King Lear, act ii, sc. 2 (18). | ||
| (18) | Macbeth. | Thou Lily-liver'd boy. |
| Macbeth, act v, sc. 3 (15). | ||
| (19) | For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds. | |
| Sonnet xciv. | ||
| (20) | Nor did I wonder at the Lily's white, Nor praise the deep vermilion of the Rose. | |
| Ibid. xcviii. | ||
| (21) | The Lily I condemned for thy hand. | |
| Ibid. xcix. | ||
| (22) | Their silent war of Lilies and of Roses Which Tarquin view'd in her fair face's field. | |
| Lucrece (71). | ||
| (23) | Her Lily hand her rosy cheek lies under, Cozening the pillow of a lawful kiss. | |
| Ibid. (386). | ||
| (24) | The colour in thy face That even for anger makes the Lily pale, And the red Rose blush at her own disgrace. | |
| Ibid. (477). | ||
| (25) | A Lily pale with damask die to grace her. | |
| Passionate Pilgrim (89). | ||
| (26) | Full gently now she takes him by the hand, A Lily prison'd in a jail of snow. | |
| Venus and Adonis (361). | ||
| (27) | She locks her Lily fingers one in one. | |
| Ibid. (228). | ||
| (28) | Whose wonted Lily white With purple tears, that his wound wept, was drench'd. | |
| Ibid. (1053). | ||
Which is the queen of flowers? There are two rival candidates for the honour—the Lily and the Rose; and as we look on the one or the other, our allegiance is divided, and we vote the crown first to one and then to the other. We should have no difficulty "were t'other fair charmer away," but with two such candidates, both equally worthy of the honour, we vote for a diarchy instead of a monarchy, and crown them both.[142:1] Yet there are many that would at once choose the Lily for the queen, and that without hesitation, and they would have good authority for their choice. "O Lord, that bearest rule," says Esdras, "of the whole world, Thou hast chosen Thee of all the flowers thereof one Lily." Spenser addresses the Lily as—
"The Lily, lady of the flow'ring field"—F. Q., ii, 6, 16,
which is the same as Shakespeare's "mistress of the field," ([8]), and many a poet since his time has given the same vote in many a pretty verse, which, however, it would take too much space to quote at length; so that I will content myself with these few lines by Alexander Montgomery (coeval with Shakespeare)—
"I love the Lily as the first of flowers
Whose stately stalk so straight up is and stay;
To whom th' lave ay lowly louts and cowers
As bound so brave a beauty to obey."