To the Countess of Warwick,
whose delightful Old English
Garden at Easton Lodge suggested
this book of fancies, it is
now inscribed.

daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty;

violets, dim
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes

Or Cytherea’s breath;

pale primroses,
That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Bright Phœbus in his strength, a malady
Most incident to maids;

bold oxlips, and

The crown-imperial;

lilies of all kinds,

The flower-de-luce being one!”

“—Here’s flowers for you;

Hot lavender,

mints,

savorie, marjoram;

The marigold that goes to bed with the sun,
And with him rises weeping;”

Perdita.
Winter’s Tale
Act: IV. Sc. III.

“The fairest flowers o’ the season
Are our carnations,”

Perdita.
Winter’s Tale
Act: IV. Sc. III.

“She went to the garden for parsley”

(Taming of the Shrew
Act: IV. Sc. 4)

“Their lips were four red roses on a stalk,
Which in their summer beauty kissed each other”

Richard III., Act: iv. Sc. 3

“Enter OPHELIA,
fantastically dressed with straws and flowers.”

“There’s rosemary,
that’s for remembrance;

—and there is pansies,
that’s for thoughts.”

“There’s fennel for you,

and columbines:

—there’s rue for you; and here’s some for me:
—we may call it, herb-grace o’ Sundays:—

—There’s a daisy:—”

Hamlet. Act. IV. Sc. VI.

“I know a bank where the
wild thyme blows,—

Quite over-canopied with luscious
woodbine,

“With sweet
musk roses,

and with
eglantine.”

Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Act ii., Sc. 1

“CERES, most bounteous lady, thy rich lees
Of wheat, rye, barley.”

Tempest, Act iv, Sc. 1.

“Allons! allons! sowed cockle reap’d no corn.”

Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act iv.
Sc. 3.

“The azured harebell, like thy veins.”

Cymbeline, Act iv., Sc. 2.

“Larksheels trim”

Two Noble Kinsmen.

“Get you some of this distilled Carduus Benedictus
and lay it to your heart;—”

“Why Benedictus? You have some moral in this
Benedictus”

“Moral?
No, by my
troth. I have no
moral meaning:
I meant, plain
Holy thistle”

Much Ado
about Nothing,
Act iii., Sc. 4.

“The female ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm”

Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Act V., Sc. 2

“The strawberry grows underneath the nettle,
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best
Neighboured by fruit of baser quality”

Henry V.,
Act I., Sc. 1

“Gives not the hawthorne-bush a sweeter shade
To shepherds, looking on their silly sheep,
Than doth a rich embroidered canopy
To kings that fear their subjects’ treachery?”

3 Henry VI., Act ii., Sc. 5.

“If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries”

I Henry IV., Act ii., Sc. 4

“Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly”

As You Like It,
Act ii., Sc. 7.

‘Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels.’

Troilus & Cressida, Act i., Sc. 3

Finis