230 
BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
The Eastern poets usually make the aloe a symbol of 
bitterness, doubtless in allusion to its association with 
death, and to the bitter flavour of its juices. “ As aloe 
is to the body, so is affliction to the soul—bitter, very 
bitter.” It is usually adopted as an emblem of acute 
woe, of “ Sorrow that locks up the struggling heart.” 
“ The woful teris that their letin fal, 
As bitter werin, out of teris kinde, 
For paine, as is lique aloes, or gal.’* 
Chaucer. 
The wormwood is also a symbol of bitterness. In the 
modern Language of Flowers it represents absence. 
Dr. Watts says, in his work on Logic, “ Bitter is an 
equivocal w T ord; there is bitter wormwood, there are 
bitter words, there are bitter enemies, and a bitter cold 
morning;” and the absence of those we love is also bitter, 
and may well be spoken by wormwood. The rosemary 
has a similar meaning, and has become a symbol of 
remembrance, from the old custom of using it at 
funerals, and perhaps from its supposed medical virtue 
of improving the memory. Shakspere uses it as a 
symbol of remembrance : — 
u There’s rosemary for you—that’s for remembrance; 
I pray you, love, remember,” 
said the sad Ophelia: so Perdita, in Winter’s Tale :— 
“ [To Polixines and Camillo.~\ You’re welcome, sir! 
Give me those flowers there, Dorcas.—Reverend sirs, 
For you there’s rosemary, and rue; these keep 
Seeming, and savour, all the winter long; 
Grace and remembrance be to you both. 
And welcome, to our shearing ! 
