BALM, BALSAM, OR BALSAMUM.

(1)	K. Richard.	Not all the water in the rough rude sea Can wash the Balm from an anointed king.
Richard II, act iii, sc. 2 (54).

(2)	K. Richard.	With mine own tears I wash away my Balm.
Ibid., act iv, sc. 1 (207).

(3)	K. Henry.	'Tis not the Balm, the sceptre, and the ball.
Henry V, act iv, sc. 1 (277).

(4)	K. Henry.	Thy place is fill'd, thy sceptre wrung from thee, Thy Balm wash'd off, wherewith thou wast anointed.
3rd Henry VI, act iii, sc. 1 (16).

(5)	K. Henry.	My pity hath been Balm to heal their wounds.
Ibid., act iv, sc. 8 (41).

(6)	Lady Anne.	I pour the helpless Balm of my poor eyes.
Richard III, act i, sc. 2 (13).

(7)	Troilus.	But, saying thus, instead of oil and Balm, Thou lay'st in every gash that love hath given me The knife that made it.
Troilus and Cressida, act i, sc. 1 (61).

(8)	1st Senator.	We sent to thee, to give thy rages Balm.
Timon of Athens, act v, sc. 4 (16).

(9)	France.	Balm of your age, Most best, most dearest.
King Lear, act i, sc. 1 (218).

(10)	K. Henry.	Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse Be drops of Balm to sanctify thy head.
2nd Henry IV, act iv, sc. 5 (114).

(11)	Mowbray.	I am disgraced, impeach'd, and baffled here: Pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear; The which no Balm can cure, but his heart-blood Which breathed this poison.
Richard II, act i, sc. 1 (170).

(12)	Dromio of Syracuse.	Our fraughtage, Sir, I have conveyed aboard, and I have bought The oil, the Balsamum, and aqua vitæ.
Comedy of Errors, act iv, sc. 1 (187).

(13)	Alcibiades.	Is this the Balsam that the usuring Senate Pours into captains' wounds?
Timon of Athens, act iii, sc. 5 (110).

(14)	Macbeth.	Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, Balm of hurt minds, great Nature's second course, Chief nourisher in life's feast.
Macbeth, act ii, sc. 2 (37).

(15)	Quickly.	The several chairs of order look you scour With juice of Balm and every precious flower.
Merry Wives, act v, sc. 5 (65).

(16)	Cleopatra.	As sweet as Balm, as soft as air, as gentle.
Antony and Cleopatra, act v, sc. 2 (314).

(17)		And trembling in her passion, calls it Balm, Earth's sovereign salve to do a goddess good.
Venus and Adonis (27).

(18)		And drop sweet Balm in Priam's painted wound.
Lucrece (1466).

(19)		With the drops of this most balmy time My love looks fresh.
Sonnet cvii.

In all these passages, except the two last, the reference is to the Balm or Balsam which was imported from the East, from very early times, and was highly valued for its curative properties. The origin of Balsam was for a long time a secret, but it is now known to have been the produce of several gum-bearing trees, especially the Pistacia lentiscus and the Balsamodendron Gileadense; and now, as then, the name is not strictly confined to the produce of any one plant. But in Nos. [15] and [16] the reference is no doubt to the Sweet Balm of the English gardens (Melissa officinalis), a plant highly prized by our ancestors for its medicinal qualities (now known to be of little value), and still valued for its pleasant scent and its high value as a bee plant, which is shown by its old Greek and Latin names, Melissa, Mellissophyllum, and Apiastrum. The Bastard Balm (Melittis melissophyllum) is a handsome native plant, found sparingly in Devonshire, Hampshire, and a few other places, and is well worth growing wherever it can be induced to grow; but it is a very capricious plant, and is apparently not fond of garden cultivation. "Très jolie plante, mais d'une culture difficile" (Vilmorin). It probably would thrive best in the shade, as it is found in copses.