Graff, caterpillar

Pericles, [5.1.55-62]. Helicanus. “But, since your kindness/ We have stretch’d thus far, let us beseech you/ That for our gold we may provision have,/ Wherein we are not destitute for want,/ But weary for the staleness.” Lysimachus. “O, sir, a courtesy/ Which if we should deny, the most just gods/ For every graff would send a caterpillar,/ And so inflict our province.”

Maiden bud

The Rape of Lucrece, [848-854]. “‘Why should the worm intrude the maiden bud?/ Or hateful cuckoos hatch in sparrows’ nests?/ Or toads infect fair founts with venom mud?/ Or tyrant folly lurk in gentle breasts?/ Or kings be breakers of their own behests?/ But no perfection is so absolute/ That some impurity doth not pollute.”

Weeds, flowers, fruit-trees, caterpillars, knots, herbs, hedges

King Richard II, [3.4.22-25]. Man. “Why should we in the compass of a pale/ Keep law and form and due proportion,/ Showing, as in a model, our firm estate,/ When our sea-walled garden, the whole land,/ Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers chok’d up,/ Her fruit-trees all unprun’d, her hedges ruin’d,/ her knots disordered, and her wholesome herbs/ Swarming with caterpillars?”

*
Knots: flower beds laid out in patterns.

Caterpillars

King Henry the Sixth, Part II, [4.4.32-37]. First Messenger. “His army is a ragged multitude/ Of hinds and peasants, rude and merciless./ Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother’s death/ Hath given them heart and courage to proceed./ All scholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen,/ They call fasle caterpillars and intend their death.”

Caterpillars, weeds

King Richard II, [2.3.162-167]. Bolingbroke. “An offer, uncle, that we will accept;/ But we must win your Grace to go with us/ To Bristol castle, which they say is held/ By Bushy, Bagot, and their complices,/ The caterpillars of the commonwealth,/ Which I have sworn to weed and pluck away.”