BACHELOR'S BUTTON. Hostess. What say you to young Master Fenton? he capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth, he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he smells April and May; he will carry't, he will carry't; 'tis in his Buttons; he will carry't. Merry Wives, act iii, sc. 2 (67). "Though the Bachelor's Button is not exactly named by Shakespeare, it is believed to be alluded to in this passage; and the supposed allusion is to a rustic divination by means of the flowers, carried in the pocket by men and under the apron by women, as it was supposed to retain or lose its freshness according to the good or bad success of the bearer's amatory prospects." " I The true Bachelor's Button of the present day is the double Ranunculus acris, but the name is applied very loosely to almost any small double globular flowers. In Shakespeare's time it was probably applied still more loosely to any flowers in bud (according to the derivation from the French bouton). Button is frequently so applied by the old writers Mr. J. Fitchett Marsh, of Hardwicke House, Chepstow, in "The Garden.' I have to thank Mr. Marsh for much information kindly given both in "The Garden" and by letter. BALM, BALSAM, OR BALSAMUM. (1) K. Richard. Not all the water in the rough rude sea Can wash the Balm from an anointed king. Richard II, act iii, sc. 2 (54). (2) K. Richard. With mine own tears I wash away my Balm. Ibid., act iv, sc. I (207). (3) K. Henry. 'Tis not the Balm, the sceptre, and the ball. Henry V, act iv, sc. 1 (277). (4) K. Henry. Thy place is fill'd, thy sceptre wrung from thee, Thy Balm wash'd off, wherewith thou wast anointed. 3rd Henry VI, act iii, sc. 1 (16). (5) K. Henry. My pity hath been Balm to heal their wounds. Ibid., act iv, sc. 8 (41). (6) Lady Anne. I pour the helpless Balm of my poor eyes. (7) Troilus. Richard III, act i, sc. 2 (13). But, saying thus, instead of oil and Balm, Troilus and Cressida, act i, sc. 1 (61). (8) 1st Senator. We sent to thee, to give thy rages Balm. (9) France. Timon of Athens, act v, sc. 4 (16). Most best, most dearest. King Lear, act i, sc. 1 (218). (10) K. Henry. Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse Be drops of Balm to sanctify thy head. 2nd Henry IV, act iv, sc. 5 (114). (11) Mowbray. I am disgraced, impeach'd, and baffled here : Pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear; The which no Balm can cure, but his heart-blood Which breathed this poison. (12) Dromio of Syracuse. Richard II, act i, sc. I (170). Our fraughtage, Sir, I have conveyed aboard, and I have bought Comedy of Errors, act iv, sc. I (187). (13) Alcibiades. Is this the Balsam that the usuring Senate Pours into captains' wounds? Timon of Athens, act iii, sc. 5 (110). (14) Macbeth. (15) Quickly. Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, Macbeth, act ii, sc. 2 (37). (16) Cleopatra. As sweet as Balm, as soft as air, as gentle. (17) (18) (19) Antony and Cleopatra, act v, sc. 2 (314). With the drops of this most balmy time Sonnet cvii. In all these passages, except the two last, the reference is to the Balm or Balsam which was imported from the East, from very early times, and was highly valued for its curative properties. The origin of Balsam was for a long time a secret, but it is now known to have been the produce of several gum-bearing trees, especially the Pistacia lentiscus and the Balsamodendron Gileadense; and now, as then, the name is not strictly confined to the produce of any one plant. But in Nos. 15 and 16 the reference is no doubt to the Sweet Balm of the English gardens (Melissa officinalis), a plant highly prized by our ancestors for its medicinal qualities (now known to be of little value), and still valued. for its pleasant scent and its high value as a bee plant, which is shown by its old Greek and Latin names, Melissa, Mellissophyllum, and Apiastrum. The Bastard Balm (Melittis melissophyllum) is a handsome native plant, found sparingly in Devonshire, Hampshire, and a few other places, and is well worth growing wherever it can be induced to grow; but it is a very capricious plant, and is apparently not fond of garden. cultivation. "Très jolie plante, mais d'une culture difficile " (Vilmorin). It probably would thrive best in the shade, as it is found in copses. BARLEY. (1) Iris. Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas Of Wheat, Rye, Barley, Vetches, Oats, and Pease. Tempest, act iv, sc. 1 (60). (2) Constable. Can sodden water, A drench for surrein'd jades, their Barley broth, Henry V, act iii, sc. 5 (18).1 These two passages require little note. The Barley (Hordeum vulgare) of Shakespeare's time and our own is the same. We may note, however, that the Barley broth (2) of which the French Constable spoke so contemptuously as the food of English soldiers was probably beer, which long before the time of Henry V. was so celebrated that it gave its name to the plant (Barley being simply the Beer-plant), and in Shakespeare's time, "though strangers never heard of such a word or such a thing, by reason it is not everyewhere made," yet 66 our London Beere-Brewers would scorne to learne to make beere of either French or Dutch" (Gerard). Caliban. BARNACLES. We shall lose our time And all be turn'd to Barnacles. Tempest, act iv, sc. 1 (248). It may seem absurd to include Barnacles among plants; but in the time of Shakespeare the Barnacle tree was firmly believed in, and Gerard gives a plate of "the Goose tree, Barnacle tree, or the tree bearing Geese," and says that he declares "what our eies have seene, and our hands have touched." A full account of the fable will be found in Harting's Ornithology of Shakespeare,” p. 247, and an excellent account in Lee's "Sea Fables Explained" (Fisheries Exhibition handbooks), p. 98. But neither of these writers have quoted I "Vires ordea prestant."-Modus Cenandi, 176. ("Babee's Book.") the testimony of Sir John Mandeville, which is, however, well worth notice. When he was told in "Caldilhe" of a tree that bore a lytylle Best in Flessche in Bon and Blode as though it were a lytylle Lomb, withouten Wolle," he did not refuse to believe them, for he says, "I tolde hem of als gret a marveylle to hem that is amonges us; and that was of the Bernakes. For I tolde hem, that in our Contree weren Trees, that beren a Fruyt, that becomen Briddes fleeynge; and tho that fallen in the Water lyven, and thei that fallen on the Erthe dyen anon; and thei ben right gode to mannes mete. And here of had thei als gret marvaylle that sume of hem trowed, it were an impossible thing to be " ("Voiage and Travaille," c. xxvi.). BAY TREES. (1) Captain. 'Tis thought the King is dead; we will not stay. The Bay-trees in our country are all wither'd. Richard II, act ii, sc. 4 (7). Marry come up, my dish of chastity with Rosemary and Bays! Pericles, act iv, sc. 6 (159). (2) Bawd. (3. The Vision-- Enter, solemnly tripping one after another, six personages, clad in white robes, wearing on their heads garlands of Bays, and golden vizards on their faces, branches of Bays or Palms in their hands. Henry VIII, act iv, sc. 2 It is not easy to determine what tree is meant in these passages. In the first there is little doubt that Shakespeare copied from some Italian source the superstition that the Bay trees in a country withered and died when any great calamity was approaching. We have no proof that such an idea ever prevailed in England. In the second passage reference is made to the decking of the chief dish at high feasts with garlands of flowers and evergreens. But the Bay tree had been too recently introduced from the South of Europe in Shakespeare's time to be so used to any great extent, though the tree was known long before, for it is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Vocabularies by the name of |