"A CURIOUS-KNOTTED GARDEN," VREDEMAN DE VRIES
GARDEN WITH ARBORS, VREDEMAN DE VRIES
Ophelia handed a sprig of rosemary to her brother with the words: "There's rosemary; That's for remembrance; pray you, love, remember." Probably she knew the old song in the "Handful of Pleasant Delights"[70] where occurs the verse:
Rosemary is for remembrance
Between us day and night,
Wishing that I might always have
You present in my sight.
Rosemary was used profusely at weddings among the decorations and the strewings on the floor. A sprig of it was always placed in the wine to insure the bride's happiness.
The herb was also conspicuous at funerals, naturally enough as the herb was emblematic of remembrance. The Friar in "Romeo and Juliet" exclaims:
Dry up your tears and stick your rosemary
On this fair corse.[71]
[71] Act IV, Scene V.