276 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
Shakespeare thus gives us the two names for the same plant, 
Rue and Herb of Grace, and though at first sight there seems 
to be little or no connection between the two names, yet really 
they are so closely connected, that the one name was derived 
from, or rather suggested by, the other. Rue is the English 
form of the Greek and Latin ruta, a word which has never been 
explained, and in its earlier English form of rude came still 
nearer to the Latin original. But ruth was the English word 
for sorrow and remorse, and to rue was to be sorry for anything, 
or to have pity; 1 we still say a man will rue a particular 
action, i. e. be sorry for it; 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 (in 1838 Loudon said, 
“It is to this day called Ave Grace in Sussex’ 5 ), repentance 
being the chief sign of grace ; and it is not unlikely that this 
idea was strengthened by the connection of Rue with the 
bitter herbs of the Bible, though it is only once mentioned, 
and then with no special remark, except as a titheable garden 
herb, together with Anise and Cummin. 
The Rue, like Lavender and Rosemary, is a native of the 
more barren parts of the coasts of the Mediterranean, and has 
been found on Mount Tabor, but it was one of the earliest 
occupants of the English Herb garden. It is very frequently 
mentioned in the Saxon Leech-books, and entered so largely 
into their prescriptions that it must have been very extensively 
grown. Its strong aromatic smell, 2 and bitter taste, with the 
blistering quality of the leaves, soon established its character 
as almost a heal-all. 
“ Rew bitter a worthy gres (herb) 
Mekyl of myth and vertu is .”—Stockholm MS ., 1305. 
1 “ Re we on my child, that of thyn gentilnesse 
Rewest on every sinful in destresse.” 
Chaucer, The Man of Lawes Tale. 
2 “ Ranke-smelling Rue.”— Spenser, Muiopotmos . 
