"Yet the virtues of Fennel, as thus enumerated by Longfellow, do not comprise either of those attributes of the plant which illustrate the two passages from Shakespeare. The first alludes to it as an emblem of flattery, for which ample authority has been found by the commentators.[89:2] Florio is quoted for the phrase 'Dare finocchio,' _to give fennel_, as meaning _to flatter_. In the second quotation the allusion is to the reputation of Fennel as an inflammatory herb with much the same virtues as are attributed to Eringoes."--Mr. J. F. MARSH in _The Garden_. The English name was directly derived from its Latin name _Fœniculum_, which may have been given it from its hay-like smell (_fœnum_), but this is not certain. We have another English word derived from the Giant Fennel of the South of Europe (_ferula_); this is the ferule, an instrument of punishment for small boys, also adopted from the Latin, the Roman schoolmaster using the stalks of the Fennel for the same purpose as the modern schoolmaster uses the cane. The early poets looked on the Fennel as an emblem of the early summer-- "Hyt befell yn the month of June When the Fenell hangeth yn toun." _Libæus Diaconus._(1225). As a useful plant, the chief use is as a garnishing and sauce for fish. Large quantities of the seed are said to be imported to flavour gin, but this can scarcely be called useful. As ornamental plants, the large Fennels (F. Tingitana, F. campestris, F. glauca, &c.) are very desirable where they can have the necessary room. FOOTNOTES: [89:1] "Fennelle or Fenkelle, feniculum maratrum."--_Catholicon Anglicum._ [89:2] "_Christophers._ No, my _good lord_. _Count._ Your _good lord_! O, how this smells of Fennel." BEN JONSON, _The Case Altered_, act ii, sc. 2. FERN. _Gadshill._ We have the receipt of Fern-seed--we walk invisible. _Chamberlain._ Now, by my faith, I think you are more beholding to the night than to Fern-seed for your walking invisible. _1st Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 1 (95). There is a fashion in plants as in most other things, and in none is this more curiously shown than in the estimation in which Ferns are and have been held. Now-a-days it is the fashion to admire Ferns, and few would be found bold enough to profess an indifference to them. But it was not always so. Theocritus seems to have admired the Fern-- "Like Fern my tresses o'er my temples streamed." _Idyll_ xx. (_Calverley._) "Come here and trample dainty Fern and Poppy blossom." _Idyll_ v. (_Calverley._)