[71:1] Cypress, or Cyprus (for the word is spelt differently in the different editions), is also mentioned by Shakespeare in the following—

(1)Clown.In sad Cypress let me be laid.
Twelfth Night, act ii, sc. 4.
(2)Olivia.To one of your receiving
Enough is shown; and Cyprus, not a bosom,
Hides my poor heart.
Ibid., act iii, sc. 1.
(3)Autolycus.Lawn as white as driven snow,
Cyprus, black as e'er was crow.
Winter's Tale, act iv, sc. 3.

But in all these cases the Cypress is not the name of the plant, but is the fabric which we now call crape, the "sable stole of Cypre's lawn" of Milton's "Penseroso."

DAFFODILS.[73:1]

(1)Autolycus.When Daffodils begin to peer,
With heigh! the doxy o'er the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year.
Winter's Tale, act iv, sc. 3 (1).
(2)Perdita.Daffodils
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty.
Ibid., act iv, sc. 4 (118).
(3)Wooer.With chaplets on their heads of Daffodillies.
Two Noble Kinsmen, act iv, sc. 1 (94).

See also [Narcissus], p. [175].

Of all English plants there have been none in such constant favour as the Daffodil, whether known by its classical name of Narcissus, or by its more popular names of Daffodil, or Daffadowndilly, and Jonquil. The name of Narcissus it gets from being supposed to be the same as the plant so named by the Greeks first and the Romans afterwards. It is a question whether the plants are the same, and I believe most authors think they are not; but I have never been able to see very good reasons for their doubts. The name Jonquil comes corrupted through the French, from juncifolius or "rush-leaf," and is properly restricted to those species of the family which have rushy leaves. "Daffodil" is commonly said to be a corruption of Asphodel ("Daffodil is Ασφοδελον, and has capped itself with a letter which eight hundred years ago did not belong to it."—Cockayne, Spoon and Sparrow, 19), with which plant it was confused (as it is in Lyte's "Herbal"), but Lady Wilkinson says very positively that "it is simply the old English word 'affodyle,'[73:2] which signifies 'that which cometh early.'" "Daffadowndilly," again is supposed to be but a playful corruption of "Daffodil," but Dr. Prior argues (and he is a very safe authority) that it is rather a corruption of "Saffron Lily." Daffadowndilly is not used by Shakespeare, but it is used by his contemporaries, as by Spenser frequently, and by H. Constable, who died in 1604—

"Diaphenia, like the Daffadowndilly,
White as the sun, fair as the Lilly,
Heigh, ho! how I do love thee!"