And a' plays at quoits well, and eats conger and Fennel.

_2nd Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 4 (266).

The Fennel was always a plant of high reputation. The Plain of Marathon
was so named from the abundance of Fennel (+marathron+) growing on
it.[89:1] And like all strongly scented plants, it was supposed by the
medical writers to abound in "virtues." Gower, describing the star
Pleiades, says--

"Eke his herbe in speciall
The vertuous Fenel it is."

_Conf. Aman._, lib. sept. (3, 129. Paulli.)

These virtues cannot be told more pleasantly than by Longfellow--

"Above the lowly plants it towers,
The Fennel with its yellow flowers,
And in an earlier age than ours
Was gifted with the wondrous powers--
Lost vision to restore.
It gave men strength and fearless mood,
And gladiators fierce and rude
Mingled it with their daily food:
And he who battled and subdued
A wreath of Fennel wore."

"Yet the virtues of Fennel, as thus enumerated by Longfellow, do not
comprise either of those attributes of the plant which illustrate the
two passages from Shakespeare. The first alludes to it as an emblem of
flattery, for which ample authority has been found by the
commentators.[89:2] Florio is quoted for the phrase 'Dare finocchio,'
_to give fennel_, as meaning _to flatter_. In the second quotation the
allusion is to the reputation of Fennel as an inflammatory herb with
much the same virtues as are attributed to Eringoes."--Mr. J. F. MARSH
in _The Garden_.

The English name was directly derived from its Latin name
_Foeniculum_, which may have been given it from its hay-like smell
(_foenum_), but this is not certain. We have another English word
derived from the Giant Fennel of the South of Europe (_ferula_); this is
the ferule, an instrument of punishment for small boys, also adopted
from the Latin, the Roman schoolmaster using the stalks of the Fennel
for the same purpose as the modern schoolmaster uses the cane.

The early poets looked on the Fennel as an emblem of the early summer--

"Hyt befell yn the month of June
When the Fenell hangeth yn toun."

_Libaeus Diaconus._(1225).

As a useful plant, the chief use is as a garnishing and sauce for fish.
Large quantities of the seed are said to be imported to flavour gin, but
this can scarcely be called