"HERBS OF GRACE" 245 



"Euphues" (1588): "Though the Camomile the 

 more it is trodden and pressed down the more it 

 spreadeth, yet the violet the oftener it is handled 

 and touched, the sooner it withereth and decayeth." 

 Emblem of patience, the camomile was often used 

 to point a moral and to teach patience. In "The 

 More the Merrier" ( 1608), a character observes: 



The Camomile shall teach thee patience, 

 Which riseth best when trodden most upon. 



Because its scent was brought out when trodden 

 upon, camomile was planted in and along walks and 

 on the edges of flower-beds. Its low growth and 

 delicious perfume made it a very attractive border 

 plant. 



InLawson's "New Orchard" (about 1616) there 

 are instructions for "Large walks, broad and long, 

 close and open like the Tempe groves in Thessaly, 

 raised with gravel and sand, having seats and banks 

 of Camomile : all this delights the mind and brings 

 health to the body." 



In Shakespeare's day camomile grew in "the wild 

 field by Richmond Green." 



"Our ordinary Camomill [says Parkinson] is well 

 known to all to have many small trailing branches 

 set with very fine small leaves and spreading thick 

 over the ground taking root as it spreadeth ; the tops 



