his Ladyes fauour that he fauoureth: insomuch as there is no Weede almoste but it is worne."
Let us reason of the meaning of those that our flower-loving poet has named.
Lavender, "hot lavender," as Perdita[1] calls it, when she is busied as these shepherds were about the floral adjuncts of a sheep-shearing, has cordial properties which no doubt made our forefathers fancy that it was of use in other than mere physical disorders of the heart. Rosemary and rue were likewise given by the maiden to her guests: "these keep," she said—
"Seeming and savour all the winter long:
Grace and remembrance be to you both."
There is not one of us who has not bethought himself of poor Ophelia's,[2] "There's rosemary: that's for remembrance, pray love remember." The peculiar and long-abiding scent of this plant has no doubt had much to do in determining its significance, for what revives an all-but dead memory more effectually than the breath of an odour which hung about us somewhile, long ago? The present form of the name rosemary disguises the fact that its original meaning was sea-dew.[3] Dr. Brewer[4] states that it was believed to have sprung from the foam as Venus did, and to share her influence in amatory affairs, he cites Butler (Hudibras, part ii. c. i,):
"Hence some reverend men approve
Of rosemary in making love."
The Rose, flos florum, was, and is, most fittingly flos Veneris also. Story-tellers, pious and otherwise, of various nationalities, give as many differing accounts of its origin. Drayton has his own pretty fancy for the nonce.[5] In the Quest of Cynthia,[6] the seeker relates that he saw a beautiful bed of roses, and that, on asking who inspired them with their virtue, he was told—
- ↑ The Winter's Tale, act iv. sc. 4.
- ↑ Hamlet, act iv. sc. 5.
- ↑ Skeat's Etymological Dictionary.
- ↑ Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
- ↑ In the ninth Nymphal [iv. 1515] he assents to Ovidean theories respecting the genesis of hyacinth, laurel, and sunflower. He says Daphne "scorns her father's thunder."
- ↑ [ii. 622.]
