Upon the wanton rushes lay you down."[119:D]
Again Iachimo, rising from the Trunk in Imogen's chamber, exclaims:—
——————————— "Our Tarquin thus
Did softly press the rushes, ere he waken'd
The chastity he wounded;"[119:E]
"A torch for me: let wantons light of heart,
Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels."[120:A]
Similar allusions abound in our old dramatic poets, one of which we shall give for the singularity of its comparison: "All the ladies and gallants," says Jonson, in his Cynthia's Revels, "lye languishing upon the rushes, like so many pounded cattle i' the midst of harvest.[120:B]"
The utility of the rush, and the species used for this purpose, will be illustrated by the following passages:—"Rushes that grow upon dry groundes," observes Dr. Bulleyne, "be good to strew in halles, chambers, and galleries, to walke upon, defending apparell, as traynes of gownes and kertles from dust[120:C];" and Decker tells us of "windowes spread with hearbs, the chimney drest up with greene boughs, and the floore strewed with bulrushes."[120:D]