(114).

(4) _Hamlet._

As peace should still her Wheaten garland wear.

_Hamlet_, act v, sc. 2 (41).

(5) _Pompey._

To send measures of Wheat to Rome.

_Antony and Cleopatra_, act ii, sc. 6 (36).

(6) _Edgar._

This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet. . . . He mildews the
white Wheat, and hurts the poor creatures of earth.

_King Lear_, act iii, sc. 4 (120).

(7) _Pandarus._

He that will have a cake out of the Wheat, must needs tarry
the grinding.

_Troilus and Cressida_, act i, sc. 1 (15).

(8) _Davy._

And again, sir, shall we sow the headland with Wheat?

_Shallow._

With red Wheat, Davy.

_2nd Henry IV_, act v, sc. 1 (15).

(9) _Theseus._

Your Wheaten wreathe
Was then nor threashed nor blasted.

_Two Noble Kinsmen_, act i, sc. 1 (68).

I might perhaps content myself with marking these passages only, and
dismiss Shakespeare's Wheat without further comment, for the Wheat of
his day was identical with our own; but there are a few points in
connection with English Wheat which may be interesting. Wheat is not an
English plant, nor is it a European plant; its original home is in
Northern Asia, whence it has spread into all civilized countries.[318:1]
For the cultivation of Wheat is one of the first signs of civilized
life; it marks the end of nomadic life, and implies more or less a
settled habitation. When it reached England, and to what country we are
indebted for it, we do not know; but we know that while we are indebted
to the Romans for so many of our useful trees, and fruits, and
vegetables, we are not indebted to them for the introduction of Wheat.
This we might be almost sure of from the very name, which has no
connection with the Latin names, _triticum_ or _frumentum_, but is a
pure old English word, signifying originally _white_, and so
distinguishing it as the white grain in opposition to the darker grains
of Oats and Rye. But besides the etymological evidence, we have good
historical evidence that Caesar found Wheat growing in England when he
first landed on the shores of Kent. He daily victualled his camp with
British Wheat ("frumentum ex agris quotidie in castra conferebat"); and
it was while his soldiers were r