134 THE BOOK OF HERBS 



the countries where it grows to a " very great height " i 

 and the stem is " cloven out into thin boards, it hath 

 served to make lutes, or such like instruments, and here 

 with us carpenter's rules, and to divers other purposes." 



Rue {Ruta graveoUns). 



Reverend sirs, 

 For you there's Rosemary and Rue ; these keep 

 Seeming and savour all the winter long, 

 Grace and remembrance to you both. 



ffinlcr's Talc, iv. 3. 



Here did she fall a tear ; here, in this place, 

 I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace ; 

 Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen, 

 In the remembrance of a weeping queen. 



Richard II., iii. 4. 



There's rue for you, and here's some for me ; we may call it herb of 

 grace o' Sundays O ! you may wear your rue with a difference. 



Hamlet, iv. 5. 

 Michael from Adam's eyes the film 'emoved 

 . . . then purged with euphrasy and rue, 

 The visual nerve ; for he had much to see. 



Paradise Lost, book xi. 



He who sows hatred, shall gather rue. 



Danish Proverb. 



" Ruth was the English name for sorrow and remorse, 

 and to rue was to be sorry for anything or to have pity, 

 . . . and so it was a natural thing to say that a plant 

 which was so bitter and had always borne the name Rue 

 or Ruth must be connected with repentance. It was 

 therefore the Herb of Repentance, and this was soon 

 transformed into the Herb of Grace." ^ Canon Ella- 

 combe's explanation makes clear why rue was often 

 alluded to symbolically, especially by Shakespeare, to 

 whom the thought of repentance leading to grace seems to 

 have been an accustomed one. It has been often stated 

 the actual origin of the name was the fact that rue was 



' Parkinson. 



2 "Plant-lore and Garden-craft of Shakespeare," Canon EUacombe. 



