Whereof the ewe not bites."
Dr. Grey, in his Notes on Shakespeare, says that they are "higher, sourer, and of a deeper green than the grass which grows round them." They were long a mystery even to scientific men, but are now known to be due to the spreading of a kind of agaricum, or fungus, which enriches the ground by its decay.
Who tasted the honey-bag of the bee, etc. All these allusions to the fairies are suggested by passages in A Midsummer-Night's Dream. The cankers are canker-worms, as often in Shakespeare.
Page 79.—A laund. An open space in a forest. See 3 Henry VI. iii. 1. 2: "For through this laund anon the deer will come," etc. Lawn is a corruption of laund.
Page 80.—Who had command over the spirits, etc. Like Prospero in The Tempest.
Vervain and dill. These were among the plants supposed to be used by witches in their charms; but many such plants were also believed to be efficacious as counter-charms, or means of protection against witchcraft. Vervain was called "the enchanter's plant," on account of its magic potency; but Aubrey says that it "hinders witches from their wills," and Drayton refers to it as "'gainst witchcraft much availing."
Page 81.—The ancient font represented in the cut was in use in the Stratford Church until about the middle of the 17th century. Shakespeare was doubtless baptized at it.
Page 82.—John Stow. A noted English antiquarian and historian (1525–1604). His Survey of London (1598) is the standard authority on old London.
Page 83.—The calendars of their nativity. Referring to the twin Dromios, who were born at the same time with the twin children of the Abbess, who is really Emilia, the long-lost wife of Egeus. By a similar figure Antipholus of Syracuse (i. 2. 41) says of Dromio, "Here comes the almanac of my true date."