HERBS USED IN DECORATIONS, ETC. 133 



to this incident, further describes their entry, " The 

 two branded persons riding first, side by side, with 

 branches of rosemary in their hands, and two or three 

 hundred horse closely following them, and multitudes 

 of foot on either side of them, walking by them, every 

 man on horseback or on foot having bays or rosemary 

 in their hats or hands, and the people on either side of 

 the street strewing the way as they passed with herbs, 

 and such other greens as the season afforded, and ex- 

 pressing great joy for their return." This splendid 

 reception must have revealed very plainly to the Govern- 

 ment the mind and temper of the people. Nowadays 

 the exuberance of the mob in greeting popular heroes 

 is much what it seems to have been then, only they 

 do not generally express it in such a pretty way as 

 strewing rosemary and bays. 



Culpepper writes that Rosemary was used " not only 

 for physical but civil purposes," and among other uses, 

 was placed in the dock of courts of justice. The reason 

 for this was that among its many reputed medicinal 

 virtues, " it was accounted singular good to expel the 

 contagion of the pestilence from which poor prisoners 

 too often suffered. It was also especially good to 

 comfort the hearte and to helpe a weake memory," 

 and was generally highly thought of. Rosemary is 

 still retained in the pharmacopoeia and is popularly much 

 valued as a stimulant to making hair grow. Ueau de la 

 reine d'Hongrie, rosemary tops in proof spirit, was once 

 famous as a restorative and is mentioned in Perrault's 

 fairy story of " The Sleeping Beauty." After the 

 princess pricks her hand with the spindle and falls into 

 the fatal sleep, among the means taken to bring back 

 consciousness, " en lui frotte les tempes avec de I'eau 

 de la reine d'Hongrie ; mais rien ne lui faisait revenir." 

 Rosemary is also an ingredient in Eau de Cologne. Its 

 efficacy in magic is mentioned in another chapter. In 



