From an old opinion of Rosemary-juice having the pro- 

 perty of strengthening the memory, this plant has been poeti- 

 cally made the emblem of Remembrance, or Fidelity; and 

 this was probably the origin of its being worn or used at fune- 

 rals, and weddings. 



There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; 

 Pray you, love, remember; and there is pansies, 

 That's for thoughts. Shaks. 



And the humble rosemary, 



Whose sweets so thanklessly are shed 



To scent the desert, and the dead. 



Lalla Rookh. 



Reverend Sirs, 



For you there's rosemary and rue : these keep 

 Seeming, and savour, all the winter long: 

 Grace, and remembrance, be to you both. Shaks. 



RUE. 

 Ruta 



Rttta, an ancient Latin name derived from the Greek 

 eu*, to flow, in allusion to some reputed expelling qualities 

 of the plant. 



Rue, E. a contracted word, and so named from its bitter 

 taste. Sax. reowian, hreowian; Welsh rhuaw, Dutch 

 rouwen; Ger. reun, to repent. Greek ^rr,, from e u>. 



Johnson tells us, it was called Herb of Grace, because 

 holy water was sprinkled with it. Jeremy Taylor says of it, 

 " They (the Romish exorcists) are to try the Devil by holy 

 water, incense, sulphur, rue, and from thence, as is supposed, 

 it received the appellation of Herb of Grace." 



What savory is belter 

 For places infected, than wormwood and rue. 



Tusser. 



The Weasel, to encounter the serpent, arms herself with 

 eating rue. [See Johnson. 



There's fennel for you, and columbines: 

 There's rue for you: and here's some for me: 

 We may call it herb of grace, o' Sundays: you 

 May wear your rue with a difference. There's a 

 Daisy: I would give you some violets, but they 

 Wither'd all, when my father died. Shaks. 



Here did she drop a tear; here in this place 

 I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace. 



Same. 



Common Rue, Ruta graveolens, is a hardy shrub, culti- 

 vated, time out of mind, in every garden. The whole herb 

 has a peculiarly acrid, pungent smell, supposed, powerfully, 

 to prevent contagion. The bruised leaves excoriate the lips 

 if incautiously applied to them. The stem is bushy, smooth. 

 Leaves alternate, twice or thrice compounded, smooth, of a 

 deep bluish glaucous hue; their leaflets oblong, entire, tapering 

 at the base. Flowers of rather a dull yellow; copious, inter- 

 ininal, corymbose panicles. 



SAGE. 



Salvia. 



Salvia, an ancient Latin name, supposed to allude to the 

 salubrious qualities of the plant perhaps from the L. verb 

 salve, God save you, or the adv. salve, well in health. 



Sage was supposed by the ancients to possess the virtue 

 of prolonging human life; hence the following line: 



"Cur moriatur homo, cui salvia crescit in horto?" 

 " How can a man die, in whose garden there grows sage ?" 



The common garden Sage, salvia officinalis, is a plant 

 as well known to the simple, as the wise. Its agreeable aro- 

 matic bitter, forms a component part in almost all culinary 

 preparations: and for its medicinal virtues, it has been ever 

 held in great esteem by all domestic practitioners. An infu- 

 sion of the leaves, in the form of tea, is considered particu- 

 larly serviceable to persons of cold phlegmatic habits, labour- 

 ing under nervous debility. And with the addition of a little 

 lemon juice and sugar, is a grateful drink in febrile disorders. 



"Marbled with sage the hard'ning cheese she press'd." 



Gay. 



Locke tells us that "by the colour, figure, taste, and 

 smell, we have as clear ideas of sage, and hemlock, as we 

 have of a circle." 



Its flowers are bluish, an inch long, with a brown viscid 

 calyx of one leaf, somewhat bell-shaped, two-lipped. Co- 

 rolla ringent. 



SCABIOUS. 

 Scabiosa. 



Scabiosa, derived from scaber, rough, because of the 

 roughness usual in these herbs, and especially of the scaly 

 harshness of their heads of flowers. 



One of the species, S. atro-purpurea, sweet, or musky, 

 scabious, has been long cultivated in gardens. Its native 

 country unknown. Its flowers are very sweet, and there is 

 a great variety in their colour, some being of a purple, ap- 

 proaching to black, others of a pale purple, red, variegated, 

 etc. It also varies in the leaves, some being finer cut than 

 others. 



The dark purple has been popularly called " the mourn- 

 ing bride." 



SCARLET LYCHNIS. 



Ijychnis chalcedonica. 



Lychnis, L. from the Gr. xu%vi?, derived from xu%vo, a 

 lamp. Some have supposed that the appellation arose from 

 the down of the plant having been used to make wicks of 

 lamps. 



The most probable and apparent explanation of the name, 

 is, from the resemblance of the calyx of some of the species 

 to a lanthorn, its sides being semi-transparent between the 

 ribs or veins, or the whole, in some instances, quite membra- 

 nous, round, and inflated, like the horn lanthorns still used 

 by the Chinese. The appearance of the stigmas, stamens, or 

 crown of the corolla, in several species, would favour the idea 

 of a lamp with a flame,. 



