^ The Scented (jar den ^ 



Countess of Hainault sent some to her daughter, the 

 Queen of England. The MS. is entirely devoted to the 

 virtues of rosemary, and contains interesting lore about 

 the herb. Rosemary, we are told, never grows higher 

 than the height of Christ when He was a man on earth, 

 and after thirty-three years the plant increases in breadth 

 but not in height. ' Lavender and rosemary,' says the 

 writer, ' is as woman to man and White Rose to Red. It 

 is an holy tree and with folk that be just and right full 

 gladlye it groweth and thryveth.' Of its virtues, the 

 compiler of Bancke's Herbal, the earliest herbal printed 

 in the English language, tells us that it gladdens all who 

 use it, that the leaves laid under one's pillow deliver one 

 from evil dreams, that powder of the flowers bound in a 

 linen cloth to the right arm makes one light and merry, 

 that washing one's face in a decoction of the leaves 

 boiled in white wine makes one fair to look upon, that 

 the flowers laid amongst clothes and books keep away 

 moths, that burnt rosemary wood used as powder keeps 

 the teeth free from all evils and that even to smell it 

 keeps one ' youngly.' 



Rosmarinus — ' dew of the sea ' — has any plant a 

 lovelier name ? However, far inland rosemary bears 

 the memory of the sea, near which it grows naturally, 

 in the bracing fragrance of its leaves and flowers. 

 Rosemary has always been regarded as a herb endued 

 with mysterious powers. In the old French language of 

 flowers rosemary represents the power of rekindling 

 lost energy. Did they not try to waken even the 

 Sleeping Beauty by its magic power ? In Portugal 

 rosemary is called alecrim, a word which carries us back 

 to the days of the Vandals, for alecrim is derived from the 

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