III
Sweet Marjoram, Thyme, and Savory
MARJORAM (Origanum vulgare) was a favorite plant in Tudor and Stuart times. An old writer informs us that "Sweet Marjoram is not only much used to please the outward sense in nosegays and in the windows of houses, as also in sweet powders, sweet bays and sweet washing waters, but is also of much use in physic."
Perdita classes it with hot lavender and savory.[77] Shakespeare, appreciating its delicate and delightful scent, brings this out most beautifully in his "Sonnet XCIX":
The forward violet thus did I chide:—
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells,
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.
The lily I condemnèd for thy hand,
And buds of marjoram had stolen thy hair.
[77] "The Winter's Tale"; Act IV, Scene III.
This comparison is even more lovely than Milton's description of Sabrina with her "loose braid of amber-dropping hair."
In Shakespeare's time several species were grown: the common, the winter, and the sweet. They were all favorite pot-herbs and were used in salads, if we may believe the Clown in "All's Well That Ends Well":
Lafen. 'Twas a good lady, 'twas a good lady; we may
pick a thousand sallets ere we light on such another
herb.
Clown. Indeed, sir, she was the Sweet Marjoram of the
sallet, or, rather, the Herb of Grace.