rmes, and branches of trees,
with his long winding stalkes, and tender leaves, openyng or spreading
forthe his swete Lillis, like ladie's fingers, em[=o]g the thornes or
bushes," and there is no doubt from the context that he is here
referring to the Honeysuckle. Chaucer gives the crown of Woodbine to
those who were constant in love--

"And tho that weare chaplets on their hede
Of fresh Woodbine, be such as never were
To love untrue in word, thought, ne dede,
But aye stedfast; ne for pleasaunce ne fere,
Though that they should their hertes al to-tere,
Would never flit, but ever were stedfast
Till that there lives there asunder brast."

_The Flower and the Leaf._

The two last lines well describe the fast union between the Honeysuckle
and its mated tree.

FOOTNOTES:

[126:1]

"Woodbines of sweet honey full."

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER, _Tragedy of Valentinian_.

[126:2] Milton probably took the idea from Theocritus--

"Ivy reaches up and climbs,
Gilded with blossom-dust about its lip;
Round which a Woodbine wreathes itself, and flaunts
Her saffron fruitage."--_Idyll_ i. (_Calverley_).

HYSSOP.

_Iago._

'Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our
gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners; so that if
we will plant Nettles or sow Lettuce, set Hyssop, and weed
up Thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs or distract
it with many, either to have it sterile with idleness,
or maimed with industry, why, the power and corrigible
authority of this lies in our wills.

_Othello_, act i, sc. 3 (322).

We should scarcely expect such a lesson of wisdom drawn from the simple
herb-garden in the mouth of the greatest knave and villain in the whole
range of Shakespeare's writings. It was the preaching of a deep
hypocrite, and while we hate the preacher we thank him for his
lesson.[128:1]

The Hyssop (_Hyssopus officinalis_) is not a British plant, but it was
held in high esteem in Shakespeare's time. Spenser spoke of it as--

"Sharp Isope good for green wounds remedies"--

and Gerard grew in his garden five or six different species or
varieties. He does not tell us where his plants came from, and perhaps
he did not know. It comes chiefly from Austria and