106 A GARDEN OF HERBS 



ROSEMARY 



" For the sickly take this wort rosemary, pound it with 

 oil, smear the sickly one, wonderfully thou healest him." 

 Saxon MS. Herbal. 



" The rosemary has all the virtues of the stone called 

 Jet." The Physicians of Myddvai. 



" Make thee a box of the wood of rosemary and smell 

 to it and it shall preserve thy youth." The Little Herball, 

 1525- 



" As for rosemary I lette it runne all over my garden walls, 

 not onlie because my bees love it, but because it is the herb 

 sacred to remembrance and to friendship, whence a sprig 

 of it hath a dumb language." SIR THOMAS MOORE. 



Of all fragrant herbs rosemary and lavender hold 

 perhaps the foremost place, but of the former how little 

 real use is made ! How many people know the taste of 

 rosemary wine or rosemary cordial ? In the French language 

 of flowers rosemary represents the power of rekindling lost 

 energy, and in olden days it was held in the highest repute 

 for its invigorating effects both as a scent and a cordial. 

 The name rosemary means " dew of the sea," and the plant 

 which grows naturally near the sea always has the smell 

 of it. What is more beautiful in winter than its glistening 

 grey-green foliage and delicious fragrance ? One rarely sees 

 a large bunch of its graceful long stems as a decoration in 

 a room, but what a joy it is when one does ! Formerly the 

 aromatic scent of the plant was highly valued for its pro- 

 tective power against infection. It was carried at funerals, 

 burnt in sick rooms, used in spells to ward off black magic, 

 and for festival days in churches ; and banqueting halls and 

 ordinary living-rooms were lavishly decorated with long 

 boughs of it. An old French name for rosemary is incensier, 

 because it was so often used instead of incense when the 

 latter was too costly. In the British Museum there is an 

 interesting old MS. on the virtues of rosemary, which was 

 sent by the Countess of Hainault to her daughter, Queen 

 Philippa of England. In it one reads of rosemary, " it 

 mighteth the boones and causeth goode and gladeth and 

 lighteth alle men that use it. The leves layde under the 



