"HERBS OF GRACE" 239 



Whose fragrance will invite your kind regard 

 When her known virtues have her worth declared : 

 On Simois' shore fair Venus raised the plant, 

 Which from the Goddess' touch derived her scent. 



THYME (Thymus Serpyllum). Thyme has al- 

 ways been appreciated by those who delight in 

 aromatic perfume. It was one of those plants that 

 Lord Bacon said were so delicious when trodden 

 upon and crushed. Thyme was the symbol for 

 sweetness in Elizabethan days. 



And sweet thyme true 



was a favorite expression. "Sweet thyme true" 

 occurs in connection with roses, "maiden pinks," 

 and daisies in the song in "The Two Noble Kins- 

 men." * 



Fairies were thought to be particularly fond of 

 thyme, and that is one reason why Shakespeare 

 covered the bank where Titania was wont to sleep 

 with wild thyme. The other reason was that he 

 chose the sweetest flowers for perfume for the 

 canopy and couch of the Fairy Queen: musk-roses, 

 eglantine, honeysuckle, violets, and wild thyme 

 mingling the most delicious of scents. The word 

 comes from the Greek and Latin thy mum. Thyme 



*Act I, Scene I. 



