Kecksies, Burs.
_Henry V_, act v, sc. 2 (51).
(2) _Antonio._
He'd sow it with Nettle seed,
_Sebastian._
Or Docks, or Mallows.
_Tempest_, act ii, sc. 1 (145).
The Dock may be dismissed with little note or comment, merely remarking
that the name is an old one, and is variously spelled as dokke, dokar,
doken, &c. An old name for the plant was "Patience;" the "bitter
patience" of Spenser, which is supposed by Dr. Prior to be a corruption
of Passions.
DOGBERRY.
(_Dramatis personae_ in _Much Ado About Nothing._)
The Dogberry is the fruit either of the Cornus sanguinea or of the
Euonymus Europaeus. Parkinson limits the name to the Cornus, and says:
"We for the most part call it the _Dogge berry tree_, because the
berries are not fit to be eaten, or to be given to a dogge." The plant
is only named by Shakespeare as a man's name, but it could scarcely be
omitted, as I agree with Mr. Milner that it was "probable that our
dramatist had the tree in his mind when he gave a name to that fine
fellow for a 'sixth and lastly,' Constable, Dogberry of the Watch"
("Country Pleasures," p. 229).
EBONY.
(1) _King._
The Ebon-coloured ink.
_Love's Labour's Lost_, act i, sc. 1 (245).
(2) _King._
By heaven, thy love is black as Ebony.
_Biron._
Is Ebony like her? O wood divine!
A wife of such wood were felicity.
_Ibid._, act iv, sc. 3 (247).
(3) _Clown._
The clearstores towards the south north are as lustrous as
Ebony.
_Twelfth Night_, act iv, sc. 2 (41).
(4) _Pistol._
Rouse up revenge from Ebon den.
_2nd Henry IV_, act v, sc. 5 (39).
(5) Death's Ebon dart, to strike him dead.
_Venus and Adonis_ (948).
The Ebony as a tree was unknown in England in the time of Shakespeare.
The wood was introduced, and was the typical emblem of darkness. The
timber is the produce of more than one species, but comes chiefly from
Diospyros Ebenum, Ebenaster, Melanoxylon, Mabola, &c. (Lindley), all
natives of the East.
EGLANTINE.
(1) _Oberon._
I know a bank where the wild Thyme blows,
Where Oxlips and the nodding Violet grows;
Qu
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