ROSEMARY. 331 



was still customary to distribute it among the company at 

 a funeral, who frequently threw sprigs of it into the grave." 

 It was also planted near tombs, like Mallow and the 

 Asphodel. 



Spirit of wine, distilled from Rosemary, produces the 

 true Hungary-water ; but this is more generally made by 

 merely dissolving the oils of rosemary and of lavender in 

 spirit of wine. By many persons Rosemary is used as tea, 

 for headaches and nervous disorders. 



Slips or cuttings taken in the spring, just before they 

 shoot, and planted in a pot of light fresh earth, will soon 

 take root. When accidentally rooted in a wall or crevice 

 of a building, it will thrive, and endure the greatest cold 

 of our winters, however exposed to the wind. 



Mr. T. Moore alludes to its chai'acter as a mourner in 

 the following passage : 



" the humble rosemary. 



Wliose sweets so thanklessly are shed 

 To scent the desert* and the dead." 



Shenstone expresses great indignation at the little re- 

 spect shown to the Rosemary in modern times : 



" And here trim rosmarin, that ■whilom crowned 



The daintiest garden of the proudest peer; 



Ere driven from its envied site, it found 



A sacred shelter for its branches here ; 



AVhere edged with gold its glittering skirts appear. 



Oh wassel days ! O customs meet and well ! 



Ere this was banished from its lofty sphere : 



Simplicity then sought this humble cell. 

 Nor ever would she more with thane and lordling dwell." 



School Mistress. 



Shakspeare and others of our old poets repeatedly speak 

 of Rosemary as an emblem of remembrance ; and as being 



* In the Great Desert are found many stalks of lavender and rosC'. 

 raary. — Asiat. Res. 



