Saturday, April 30, 2011

Parallel - Flower de luces

First Shake-Speare:

(Perdita in her list of flowers includes):

"Lilies of all kinds, the flower-de-luce being one".
 The Winter's Tale 4.4.74ff

Next, Bacon:

"Flower-de-lices & lilies of all natures".
   Essay on Gardens

[Of landscaping at Gorhambury] "The border to be set with flags of all sorts of flower de Luces and lilies".
   Commentarius Solutus

Comment: All three passages couple flower-de-luces and lilies, and add of "all kinds", "all natures" or "all sorts". Spedding commented: "The scene in the 'Winter Tale' where Perdita presents the guests with flowers suited to their ages, has some expressions which, if this Essay had been contained in the earlier editions [it was not published till 1625] would have made me suspect that Shake-Speare had been reading it".  In fact, I can see no significant parallel apart from the one I have identified. But one should perhaps add that 64 of the flowers, trees and shrubs mentioned in Bacon's short Essay also appear in the Shake-Speare works.

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