in "Merry
Wives of Windsor" (v. 5), says: "Let the sky rain potatoes; let it
thunder to the tune of 'Green Sleeves,' hail kissing comfits," etc. In
"Troilus and Cressida" (v. 2), Thersites adds: "How the devil luxury,
with his fat rump and potato finger, tickles these together."[545] It
appears, too, that the medical writers of the times countenanced this
fancy. Mr. Ellacombe[546] observes that the above passages are of
peculiar interest, inasmuch as they contain almost the earliest notice
of potatoes after their introduction into England.

[544] "Glossary," vol. ii. p. 677.

[545] See Beaumont and Fletcher, "Elder Brother," iv. 4;
Massinger, "New Way to Pay Old Debts," ii. 2; Ben Jonson,
"Cynthia's Revels," ii. 1, etc.

[546] "Plant-Lore of Shakespeare," p. 173.

_Primrose._ Although the early primrose has always been such a popular
and favorite flower, yet it seems to have been associated with
sadness,[547] or even worse than sadness; for, in the following
passages, the "primrose paths" and "primrose way" are meant to be
suggestive of sinful pleasures. Thus, in "Hamlet" (i. 3), Ophelia says:

"like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede."

[547] Ibid., p. 179.

And in "Macbeth" (ii. 3), the Porter declares: "I had thought to have
let in some of all professions, that go the primrose way to the
everlasting bonfire." Curious to say, too, Shakespeare's only epithets
for this fair flower are, "pale," "faint," "that die unmarried." Nearly
all the poets of that time spoke of it in the same strain, with the
exception of Ben Jonson and the two Fletchers.

_Reed._ Among the uses to which the reed was formerly applied were the
thatching of houses and the making of shepherds' pipes. The former is
alluded to in the "Tempest" (v. 1):

"His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves of reeds;"

and the latter in "Merchant of Venice" (iii. 4), where Portia speaks of
"a reed voice." It has generally been regarded as the emblem of
weakness, as in "Antony and Cleopatra" (ii. 7): "a reed that will do me
no service."

_Rose._ As might be expected, the rose is the flower most frequently
mentioned by Shakespeare, a symbol, in many cases, of all that is fair
and lovely. Thus, for instance, in "Hamlet" (iii. 4), Hamlet says:

"Such an act ... takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of