and obtained its name from its high reputation as a
heal-all, being supposed even to cure the plague, which was the highest
praise that could be given to a medicine in those days. It is mentioned
in all the treatises on the Plague, and especially by Thomas Brasbridge,
who, in 1578, published his "Poore Mans Jewell, that is to say, a
Treatise of the Pestilence: vnto which is annexed a declaration of the
vertues of the Hearbes Carduus Benedictus and Angelica." This little
book Shakespeare may have seen; it speaks of the virtues of the
"distilled" leaves: it says, "it helpeth the hart," "expelleth all
poyson taken in at the mouth and other corruption that doth hurt and
annoye the hart," and that "the juyce of it is outwardly applied to the
bodie" ("lay it to your heart"), and concludes, "therefore I counsell
all them that have Gardens to nourish it, that they may have it always
to their own use, and the use of their neighbours that lacke it." The
plant has long lost this high character.

HONEYSTALKS, _see_ CLOVER.

HONEYSUCKLE.

(1) _Hero._

And bid her steal into the pleached bower
Where Honeysuckles, ripen'd by the sun,
Forbid the sun to enter.

_Much Ado About Nothing_, act iii, sc. 1 (7).

(2) _Ursula._

So angle we for Beatrice; who even now
Is couched in the Woodbine coverture.

_Ibid._ (29).

(3) _Titania._

Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
So doth the Woodbine the sweet Honeysuckle
Gently entwist; the Female Ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the Elm.

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act iv, sc. 1 (47).

(4) _Hostess._

O thou Honeysuckle villain.

_2nd Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 1 (52).

(5) _Oberon._

I know a bank where the wild Thyme blows,
Where Oxlips and the nodding Violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious Woodbine.

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act ii, sc. 1 (249).

I have joined together here the Woodbine and the Honeysuckle, because
there can be little doubt that in Shakespeare's time the two names
belonged to the same plant,[126:1] and that the Woodbine was (where the
two names were at all discriminated, as in No. 3), applied to the plant
generally, and Honeysuckle to the flower. This seems very clear by
comparing together