es it, and Gerard
made many efforts to grow it; he tried to grow plants from the seed,
"the which I have planted many times in my garden, and have grown to the
height of three foot, but the first frost hath nipped them in such sort
that they perished, notwithstanding mine industrie by covering them, or
what else I could do for their succour." The fruit, however, was
imported into England in very early times, and was called by the
Anglo-Saxons Finger-Apples, a curious name, but easily explained as the
translation of the Greek name for the fruit, +daktyloi+ which was also
the origin of the word date, of which the olden form was dactylle.[80:1]

FOOTNOTES:

[80:1] "A dactylle frute dactilis."--_Catholicon Anglicum._

DEAD MEN'S FINGERS.

_Queen._

Our cold maids do Dead Men's Fingers call them.

_Hamlet_, act iv, sc. 7 (172).

_See_ LONG PURPLES, p. 148.

DEWBERRIES.

_Titania._

Feed him with Apricocks and Dewberries.

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iii, sc. 1 (169).

The Dewberry (_Rubus caesius_) is a handsome fruit, very like the
Blackberry, but coming earlier. It has a peculiar sub-acid flavour,
which is much admired by some, as it must have been by Titania, who
joins it with such fruits as Apricots, Grapes, Figs, and Mulberries. It
may be readily distinguished from the Blackberry by the fruit being
composed of a few larger drupes, and being covered with a glaucous
bloom.

DIAN'S BUD.

_Oberon._

Be, as thou wast wont to be
(touching her eyes with an herb),
See, as thou wast wont to see;
Dian's Bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power.

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iv, sc. 1 (76).

The same herb is mentioned in act iii, sc. 2 (366)--

Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye,
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error, with his might,
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.

But except in these two passages I believe the herb is not mentioned by
any author. It can be nothing but Shakespeare's translation of
Artemisia, the herb of Artemis or Diana, a herb of wonderful virtue
according to the writers before Shakespeare's day. (_See_ WORMWOOD.)

DOCKS.

(1) _Burgundy._

And nothing teems
But hateful Docks, rough Thistles,