| (1) | Iris. | Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas
Of Wheat, Rye, Barley, Vetches, Oats, and Pease. | | Tempest, act iv, sc. 1 (60). | | | (2) | Constable. | Can sodden water,
A drench for surrein'd jades, their Barley broth,
Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat? | | Henry V, act iii, sc. 5 (18).[30:1] | These two passages require little note. The Barley (Hordeum vulgare) of Shakespeare's time and our own is the same. We may note, however, that the Barley broth (2) of which the French Constable spoke so contemptuously as the food of English soldiers was probably beer, which long before the time of Henry V. was so celebrated that it gave its name to the plant (Barley being simply the Beer-plant), and in Shakespeare's time, "though strangers never heard of such a word or such a thing, by reason it is not everyewhere made," yet "our London Beere-Brewers would scorne to learne to make beere of either French or Dutch" (Gerard).
FOOTNOTES: [30:1] "Vires ordea prestant."—Modus Cenandi, 176. ("Babee's Book.")
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