H2 A GARDEN OF HERBS 



The antidote which Mercury gave to Ulysses against the 

 beverage of the Enchantress Circe has always been sup- 

 posed to be rue, and from the earliest times rue has had 

 a wonderful reputation. Galen, we are told, ate coriander 

 and rue raw, with oil and salt, against infection, and Dios- 

 corides recommends the juice as a counter-poison. Rue 

 was the chief constituent in the famous counter-poison 

 of Mithridates, King of Persia, and in later days in the 

 noted " Vinegar of the four thieves." According to tradi- 

 tion this vinegar enabled four thieves, during the great 

 plague of Marseilles, to enter all the stricken houses with 

 impunity and carry off all they chose. When gunpowder 

 was first used in Europe it was a popular belief that if the 

 gun-flint were boiled in rue and vervain the shot could not 

 miss. The Italian peasants still believe in rue as a pro- 

 tection from the evil eye, and many of them wear it con- 

 cealed on their persons. The name " Herb of grace " is 

 by many believed to be due to the fact that holy water 

 was scattered with an aspergillum made of rue, but Britten 

 says there is no ground for this supposition. To the first 

 Duke of Saxony, Frederick Barbarossa in 1181 gave the 

 right to bear a chaplet of rue on his arms, and six centuries 

 later (1807) the first King of Saxony created the Order of 

 the Crown of Rue. This order was conferred on King 

 George when he was Prince of Wales in 1902. 



Rue likes a poor, clayey loam mixed with calcareous 

 rubbish. Sow the seeds in March or April, or increase by 

 slips any time during spring. Rue must never be allowed 

 to run to seed. 



A PREVENTIVE AGAINST THE PLAGUE. A handful each 

 of rue, sage, sweet-briar and elder. Bruise and strain with 

 a quart of white wine, and put thereto a little ginger and 

 a spoonful of the best treacle, and drink thereof morning 

 and evening. The Good Housewife's Jewell, 1585. 



