Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2.
PLANTAGE.
An inquiry into the meaning of the word plantage leads to some curious information. Archdeacon Nares observes[110] that “plantage” is probably for anything that is planted. Plants were supposed to improve as the moon increased, and from an old book entitled “The Profitable Art of Gardening,” by Thos. Hill, the third edition of which was printed in 1579, we learn that neither sowing, planting, nor grafting was ever undertaken without a scrupulous attention to the increase or waning of the moon. Dryden does not appear to have understood the above passage, and has accordingly altered it to “As true as flowing tides are to the moon.” But the meaning of the original words seem sufficiently clear, and may be fully illustrated by the following quotation from Scott’s “Discoverie of Witchcraft”:—“The poore husband man perceiveth that the increase of the moone maketh plants frutiful, so as in the full moone they are in the best strength; decaieing in
the wane, and in the conjunction do utterlie wither and vade.”
The following lines from Pericles are somewhat to the point:—
“How dare the plants look up to heaven, from whence
They have their nourishment?”
Pericles, Act i. Sc. 2.
MAHOMED’S DOVE.
It is possible that particular reference may be had to the plant “Honesty,” or “Lunary” (Lunaria), which was so named from the circular shape of its pod, which was thought to resemble the moon (Luna), not only in its form, but in its silvery brightness. The title of “Honesty” appears to have been given it from the transparent nature of the pod, which discovers those seed-vessels that contain seed from such as are barren or have shed their seed. We learn from Chaucer that “Honesty” (Lunaria), was one of the plants used in incantations. Drayton calls it “Lunary”:—