"HERBS OF GRACE" 237 



sweet bays and sweet washing waters, but is also of 

 much use in physic." 



Perdita classes it with hot lavender and savory. 1 

 Shakespeare, appreciating its delicate and delight- 

 ful scent, brings this out most beautifully in his 

 "Sonnet XCIX": 



The forward violet thus did I chide : 



Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells 



If not from my love's breath ? The purple pride 



Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells, 



In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed. 



The lily I condemned for thy hand, 



And buds of marjoram had stolen thy hair. 



This comparison is even more lovely than Milton's 

 description of Sabrina with her "loose braid of 

 amber-dropping hair." 



In Shakespeare's time several species were grown: 

 the common, the winter, and the sweet. They were 

 all favorite pot-herbs and were used in salads, if 

 we may believe the Clown in "All 's Well That 

 Ends Well": 



LAFEN. 'T was a good lady, 'twas a good lady; we may 

 pick a thousand sallets ere we light on such an- 

 other herb. 



CLOWN. Indeed, sir, she was the Sweet Marjoram of the 

 sallet, or, rather, the Herb of Grace. 



'"The Winter's Tale"; Act IV, Scene III. 



