The Mace is the pretty inner rind that surrounds the Nutmeg, when ripe. It was no doubt imported with the Nutmeg in Shakespeare's time. (See [Nutmeg].)
MALLOWS.
| Antonio. | He'ld sow't with Nettle seed. | |
| Sebastian. | Or Docks, or Mallows. | |
| Tempest, act ii, sc. 1 (145). | ||
The Mallow is the common roadside weed (Malva sylvestris), which is not altogether useless in medicine, though the Marsh Mallow far surpasses it in this respect. Ben Jonson speaks of it as an article of food—
"The thresher . . . feeds on Mallows and such bitter herbs."
The Fox, act i, sc. 1.
It is not easy to believe that our common Wild Mallow was so used, and Jonson probably took the idea from Horace—
"Me pascant olivæ,
Me chichorea, levesque malvæ."