Rosemary 



sacred to remembrance and therefore to friendship, 

 whence a sprig of it hath a dumb language that 

 maketh it the chosen emblem at our funeral wakes and 

 in our buriall grounds." 



Very early was this association formed with death 

 a very natural and inevitable association for the herb 

 of remembrance and over and over again we find 



references to the 



"Dreary Rosemarye 



That always mourns the dead." 



(Hood.} 



and the poet Gay describes the funeral of a maiden 



where 



"To show their love the neighbours far and near 

 Followed with wishful look the damsel's bier. 

 Sprigg'd Rosemary the lads and lasses bore, 

 While dismally the parson walked before ; 

 Upon her grave the Rosemary they threw, 

 The daisy, butter-flower and endive blue." 



Even to this day in certain parts of the country and 

 on certain occasions sprigs of Rosemary are carried by 

 the mourners to the graveside and thrown into the 

 grave upon the coffin. It was also customary to place 

 Rosemary upon the corpse, so Friar Laurence by the 

 dead Juliet counsels 



"Dry up your tears and stick your Rosemary 

 On this fair corse and, as the custom is, 

 In all her best array bear her to church," 



and a curious superstition existed that the sprig of 

 Rosemary left in the hand of the dead would grow 



45 



