"By thend of October go gather up Sloes,
Have thou in readines plentie of thoes,
And keepe them in bed-straw, or still on the bow,
To staie both the flix of thyselfe and thy cow."
As soon as the garden Plum was introduced, great attention seems to have been paid to it, and the gardeners of Shakespeare's time could probably show as good Plums as we can now. "To write of Plums particularly," said Gerard, "would require a peculiar volume. . . . Every clymate hath his owne fruite, far different from that of other countries; my selfe have threescore sorts in my garden, and all strange and rare; there be in other places many more common, and yet yearly commeth to our hands others not before knowne."
FOOTNOTES:
[217:1] Omitted in the Globe edition.
[217:2] Bullein, in his "Government of Health," 1588, calls them "Damaske Prunes."
POMEGRANATE.
| (1) | Lafeu. | Go to, sir, you were beaten in Italy for pickinga kernel out of a Pomegranate. |
| All's Well that Ends Well, act ii, sc. 3 (275). | ||
| (2) | Juliet. | It was the nightingale and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yon Pomegranate tree.[219:1] |
| Romeo and Juliet, act iii, sc. 5 (2). | ||
| (3) | Francis. | Anon, anon, sir, Look down into the Pomegarnet,Ralph. |
| 1st Henry IV, act ii, sc. 4 (41). | ||
There are few trees that surpass the Pomegranate in interest and beauty combined. "Whoever has seen the Pomegranate in a favourable soil and climate, whether as a single shrub or grouped many together, has seen one of the most beautiful of green trees; its spiry shape and thick-tufted foliage of vigorous green, each growing shoot shaded into tenderer verdure and bordered with crimson and adorned with the loveliest flowers; filmy petals of scarlet lustre are put forth from the solid crimson cup, and the ripe fruit of richest hue and most admirable shape."—Lady Calcott's Scripture Herbal. A simpler but more valued testimony to the beauty of the Pomegranate is borne in its selection for the choicest ornaments on the ark of the Tabernacle, on the priest's vestments, and on the rich capitals of the pillars in the Temple of Solomon.
