Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/426

 398 The Folklore of Shakespeare.

Duke Theseus says :

" Good morrow, friends, St. Valentine is past ; Begin these birds but to couple now."

This observation was very inappropriate, as he was speaking at midsunrimer ; but shortly before he had made an equally out-of-date remark when he suggested that the lovers who had been found asleep

" Rose up early to observe The rite of May."

These points have induced some critics to affirm that the dream really occurred on the eve of May Day, and that the title of Midsummer Night merely referred to the time of production, as it does in TivelftJi Night and JVtjiters Tale.

March.

Perdita. . . . daffodils,

That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty. . ..

JP'inters Tale, iv. 3.

Hotspur. No more, no more : worse than the sun in March, This praise doth nourish agues. . ..

I Henry IV. iv. i. in.

I. St. David's Day. The day observed in honour of the patron saint of Wales has long been associated with the wearing of the leek in the hat as a national emblem.

The irascible Fluellen, in his talk with Henry V., infers that the custom originated at the battle of Crecy in 1346, but tradition affirms that St. David himself ordered the Welsh to wear a leek in their hats to distinguish them from Saxons. Fluellen tells the King :

" I do believe your Majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's Day,"

to which Henry replies :

" I wear it for a memorable honour. For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman."

King Hefiry V. iv. 7.