PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
2 77 
Even beasts were supposed to have discovered its virtues, so 
that weasels were gravely said, and this by such men as Pliny, 
to eat Rue when they were preparing themselves for a fight 
with rats and serpents. Its especial virtue was an eye-salve, a 
use which Milton did not overlook— 
“ To nobler sights 
Michael from Adam’s eyes the filme removed 
Which that false fruit which promised clearer sight 
Had bred ; then purged with Euphrasie and Rue 
The visual nerve, for he had much to see : ” 
Paradise Lost , book xi. 
and which was more fully stated in the old lines of the Schola 
Salerni— 
“ Nobilis est Ruta quia lumina reddit acuta ; 
Auxilio rutse, vir lippe, videbis acute : 
Cruda comesta recens oculos Caligine purgat.” 
After reading this high moral and physical character of the 
herb, it is rather startling to find that “It is believed that if 
stolen from a neighbour’s garden it would prosper better.” It 
was, however, an old belief— 
“ They sayen eke stolen sede is butt the bette.” 
Palladiics on Hnsbandrie (c. 1420), iv. 269. 
“It is a common received opinion that Rue will grow the 
better if it bee filtched out of another man’s garden.”— Hol¬ 
land’s Pliny , xix. 7. 
As other medicines were introduced the Rue declined in 
favour, so that Parkinson spoke of it with qualified praise—• 
“ Without doubt it is a most wholesom herb, although bitter 
and strong. Some do rip up a bead-rowl of the virtues of 
Rue, . . . but beware of the too-frequent or overmuch use 
thereof.” And Dr. Daubeny says of it, “It is a powerful 
stimulant and narcotic, but not much used in modern practise.” 
As a garden plant, the Rue forms a pretty shrub for a rock- 
work, if somewhat attended to, so as to prevent its becoming 
straggling and untidy. The delicate green and peculiar shape 
of the leaves give it a distinctive character, which forms a good 
contrast to other plants. 
