Rosemary is for remembrance
Between us daie and night,
Wishing that I might alwaies have
You present in my sight.
The poem in which these lines are found, is entitled, 'A Nosegay alwaies sweet for Lovers to send for Tokens of Love.'
Roger Hochet in his sermon entitled A Marriage Present (1607) thus speaks of the Rosemary;--"It overtoppeth all the flowers in the garden, boasting man's rule. It helpeth the brain, strengtheneth the memorie, and is very medicinable for the head. Another propertie of the rosemary is, it affects the heart. Let this rosemarinus, this flower of men, ensigne of your wisdom, love, and loyaltie, be carried not only in your hands, but in your hearts and heads."
"Hungary water" is made up chiefly from the oil distilled from this shrub.
I should talk on a little longer about other shrubs, herbs, and flowers, (particularly of flowers) such as the "pink-eyed Pimpernel" (the poor man's weather glass) and the fragrant Violet, ('the modest grace of the vernal year,') the scarlet crested Geranium with its crimpled leaves, and the yellow and purple Amaranth, powdered with gold,
A flower which once
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life
Began to bloom,
and the crisp and well-varnished Holly with "its rutilant berries," and the white Lily, (the vestal Lady of the Vale,--"the flower of virgin light") and the luscious Honeysuckle, and the chaste Snowdrop,
Venturous harbinger of spring
And pensive monitor of fleeting years,
and the sweet Heliotrope and the gay and elegant Nasturtium, and a great many other "bonnie gems" upon the breast of our dear mother earth,--but this gossipping book has already extended to so unconscionable a size that I must quicken my progress towards a conclusion[096].