This paper was read to the New Shakespeare Society in June, 1880, and
to the Bath Literary Club in the following November. The subject is so
closely connected with the "Plant-lore of Shakespeare," that I add it as
an Appendix.

THE SEASONS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS.

In this paper I do not propose to make any exhaustive inquiry into the
seasons of Shakespeare's plays, but (at Mr. Furnivall's suggestion) I
have tried to find out whether in any case the season that was in the
poet's mind can be discovered by the flowers or fruits, or whether,
where the season is otherwise indicated, the flowers and fruits are in
accordance. In other words, my inquiry is simply confined to the
argument, if any, that may be derived from the flowers and fruits,
leaving out of the question all other indications of the seasons.

The first part of the inquiry is, what plants or flowers are mentioned
in each play? They are as follows:--

COMEDIES.

_Tempest._ Apple, crab, wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats, peas, briar,
furze, gorse, thorns, broom, cedar, corn, cowslip, nettle, docks,
mallow, filbert, heath, ling, grass, nut, ivy, lily, piony, lime,
mushrooms, oak, acorn, pignuts, pine, reed, saffron, sedges, stover,
vine.

_Two Gentlemen of Verona._ Lily, roses, sedges.

_Merry Wives._ Pippins, buttons (?), balm, bilberry, cabbage, carrot,
elder, eringoes, figs, flax, hawthorn, oak, pear, plums, prunes,
potatoes, pumpion, roses, turnips, walnut.

_Twelfth Night._ Apple, box, ebony, flax, nettle, olive, squash,
peascod, codling, roses, violet, willow, yew.

_Measure for Measure._ Birch, burs, corn, garlick, medlar, oak, myrtle,
peach, prunes, grapes, vine, violet.

_Much Ado._ Carduus benedictus, honeysuckle, woodbine, oak, orange,
rose, sedges, willow.

_Midsummer Night's Dream._ Crab, apricots, beans, briar, red rose,
broom, bur, cherry, corn, cowslip, dewberries, oxlip, violet, woodbine,
eglantine, elm, ivy, figs, mulberries, garlick, onions, grass, hawthorn,
nuts, hemp, honeysuckle, knot-grass, leek, lily, peas, peas-blossom,
oak, acorn, oats, orange, love-in-idleness, primrose, musk-rose buds,
musk-roses, rose, thistle, thorns, thyme, grapes, violet, wheat.

_Love's Labour's Lost._ Apple, pomewater, crab, cedar, lemon, cockle,
mint, columbine, corn, daisies, lady-smocks, cuckoo-buds, ebony, elder,
grass, lily, nutmeg, oak, osier, oats, peas, plantain, rose, sycamore,
thorns, violets, wormwood.

_Merchant of Venice.