ROSEMARY. 



267 



cients to refresh the memory and comfort the brain, and was 

 called " herb of remembrance" and " forget me not"; hence 

 also its claim to represent fidelity in lovers, and its employ- 

 ment at weddings and funerals. It is not uncommon in some 

 parts of England to put rosemary in the coffin, and to distri- 

 bute sprigs of it among the mourners, who throw it into the 

 grave. Shakspeare refers to this practice : — 



" Dry up your tears, 

 And stick your rosemary on this fair corse." 



Romeo and Juliet, act iv. sc 4. 



Gay also alludes to it in his " Shepherd's v Week" : — 



" To show their love, the neighbours far and near 

 Followed with wistful looks the damsel's bier. 

 Sprigged 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." 



" There's rosemary for you, that's for remembrance ; pray 

 you, love, remember," says Ophelia in Hamlet ; and Perdita in 

 the Winter's Tale, thus addresses Polixenes and Camillo,— 

 " Reverend sirs, 



For you there's rosemary and rue ; these keep 

 Seeming and favour all the winter long ; 

 Grace and remembrance be to you both." 



Spenser calls it " refreshing rosemary," " cheerful rose- 

 mary," and Shenstone, in his Schoolmistress, has some pretty 

 lines on its banishment from the gardens of the great. 



The wild Rosemary is larger than the cultivated kind, the 

 flowers also are larger, and deeper coloured, and the leaves 

 green on both sides and plane at the margin. There are two dis- 

 tinct varieties of the cultivated plant; one with white striped 

 leaves, called Silver Rosemary, the other with yellow stripes, de- 

 nominated Golden Rosemary. It prefers naturally a poor dry soil, 

 or rubbish of old buildings, and when it has established itself 

 on a wall, will resist the greatest cold of our winters. 



Qualities and general Uses. — Rosemary is sometimes 

 used on the continent for flavouring hams, rice, &c. It is ex- 

 tensively employed in the preparation of various perfumes and 

 cosmetics, especially the famous Hungary water. The plant 



