He's [the horse] of the colour of the Nutmeg.
The omnipotent Mars, of lances the almighty, Gave Hector a gift--
_Love's Labour's Lost_, act v, sc. 2 (650).
Gerard gives a very fair description of the Nutmeg tree under the names of Nux moschata or Myristica; but it is certain that he had not any personal knowledge of the tree, which was not introduced into England or Europe for nearly 200 years after. Shakespeare could only have known the imported Nut and the Mace which covers the Nut inside the shell, and they were imported long before his time. Chaucer speaks of it as--
"Notemygge to put in ale Whether it be moist or stale, Or for to lay in cofre."--_Sir Thopas._
"And trees ther were gret foisoun, That beren notes in her sesoun. Such as men Notemygges calle That swote of savour ben withalle."
The Nutmeg tree (_Myrista officinalis_) "is a native of the Molucca or Spice Islands, principally confined to that group denominated the Islands of Banda, lying in lat. 4° 30´ south; and there it bears both blossom and fruit at all seasons of the year" ("Bot. Mag.," 2756, with a full history of the spice, and plates of the tree and fruit).
If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an Oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails,
To the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout Oak With his own bolt.
_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act i, sc. 2 (113).
An Oak with but one green leaf on it would have answered her.
_Much Ado About Nothing_, act ii, sc. 1 (247).
Thou split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled Oak.
_Measure for Measure_, act ii, sc. 2 (114). (_See_ MYRTLE.)
He lay along Under an Oak, whose antique root peeps out Upon the brook that brawls along this wood.
Under an Oak, whose boughs were Mossed with age, And high top bald with dry antiquity.
And many strokes, though with a little axe, Hew down and fell the hardest-timber'd Oak.
There is an old tale goes that Herne the Hunter, Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest, Doth all the winter time at still midnight Walk round about an Oak, with great ragg'd horns.
Why yet there want not many that do fear In deep of night to walk by this Herne's Oak.
That Falstaff at that Oak shall meet with us.
_Merry Wives of Windsor_, act iv, sc. 4 (28).