g Cherries shall their sweetness fall
Upon thy tasteful lips.

_Two Noble Kinsmen_, act i, sc. 1 (198).

(8)

When he was by, the birds such pleasure took,
That some would sing, some other in their bills
Would bring him Mulberries and ripe-red Cherries.
He fed them with his sight, they him with berries.

_Venus and Adonis_ (1101).

Besides these, there is mention of "cherry lips"[54:1] and
"cherry-nose,"[54:2] and the game of "cherry-pit."[54:3] We have the
authority of Pliny that the Cherry (_Prunus Cerasus_) was introduced
into Italy from Pontus, and by the Romans was introduced into Britain.
It is not, then, a true native, but it has now become completely
naturalized in our woods and hedgerows, while the cultivated trees are
everywhere favourites for the beauty of their flowers, and their rich
and handsome fruit. In Shakespeare's time there were almost as many, and
probably as good varieties, as there are now.

FOOTNOTES:

[54:1] _Midsummer Night's Dream_, act v, sc. 1; _Richard III_, act i,
sc. 1; _Two Noble Kinsmen_, act iv, sc. 1.

[54:2] _Midsummer Night's Dream_, act v, sc. 1.

[54:3] _Twelfth Night_, act iii, sc. 4.

CHESTNUTS.

(1) _Witch._

A sailor's wife had Chestnuts in her lap,
And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd.

_Macbeth_, act i, sc. 3 (4).

(2) _Petruchio._

And do you tell me of a woman's tongue
That gives not half so great a blow to hear
As will a Chestnut in farmer's fire?

_Taming of the Shrew_, act i, sc. 2 (208).

(3) _Rosalind._

I' faith, his hair is of a good colour.

_Celia._

An excellent colour; your Chestnut was ever the only colour.

_As You Like It_, act iii, sc. 4 (11).

This is the Spanish or Sweet Chestnut, a fruit which seems to have been
held in high esteem in Shakespeare's time, for Lyte, in 1578, says of
it, "Amongst all kindes of wilde fruites the Chestnut is best and
meetest for to be eaten." The tree cannot be regarded as a true native,
but it has been so long introduced, probably by the Romans, that grand
specimens are to be found in all parts of England; the oldest known
specimen being at Tortworth, in Gloucestershire, which was spoken of as
an old tree in the time of King Stephen; while the tree