Rosemary of Pleasant Savour
IN May the long branches of the rosemary bushes are so thickly clustered with their lovely mauve-blue aromatic flowers that at a distance the bushes look as though they were wreathed in lavender blue mists. How the bees love these flowers ! On sunny days the bee- music never ceases amongst them and seems to add even greater richness to their warm, pungent fragrance.
Ros marinus—" dew of the sea "—has any plant a more beautiful name ? However far inland rosemary grows it carries the memory of the sea near which it grows naturally, in the bracing fragrance of its leaves and flowers. Rosemary has always been regarded as a herb endued with mysterious powers. In the old French lan- guage of flowers rosemary represents the power of re- kindling lost energy. Did they not try to waken even tb,e . . Sleeping Beauty by. its magic efficacy ? -In Portugal rosemary is called. " alecrirn," a word which carries us back tnthe days of. the Vandals, for" alecrim." is derived from the Scandinavian " ellegren," literally elfin-plant; In very early days, therefore, rosemary was connected with elves, and in Sicily they tell one that the baby fairies sleep in the rosemary flowers. The lowest petals of the flowers are certainly ideal cradles for baby fairies; and one 'loves to think of them swinging .in them. Accord-.7 jug to a Spanish legend rosemary flowers were originally, White, but during the Flight into Egypt the Holy Family rested beside a rosemary bush and the Virgin Mary having thrown her robe over it, the flowers preserved the memory of her having thus • honoured them by turning the colour of the robe she wore.
Rosemary was probably first introduced into this country_ by the Romans, but there has always been a tradition that it was re-introduced by Queen Philippa of HainaUlt.. _ In the library. of Trinity College; Cambridge, there is a most interesting MS. translated from the Original. (Written by "a Clerk of the scheol of Salerno ") which was sent to. Queen Philippa of Hainault by her mother "the Countess of Henawd," and the translator, " danyel bain," states that rosemary was unknown in England until the Countess of Hainault sent some to her daughter. The MS. is entirely devoted to the virtues of rosemary, and contains interesting lore about the herb. Rosemary, we are told; never grows higher than the height of Christ when He was a man on earth, and after thirty-three years the plant increases in breadth but not in height. "Lavender and rosemary,". says the writer, "is as woman to man and White Rose to Red. It is an holy tree and with folk that be just and rightfull gladlye it groweth and thryveth." Of its virtues he tells us that it gladdens all who use it; that the leaves laid under one's pillow deliver one from evil dreams, that powder of the flowers bound in a linen cloth to the right arm make one light and merry, that washing one's face_ in a decoction of the leaves boiled in white wine make one fair to look upon, that the flowers laid amongst clothes and books keep away moths, that burnt .rosemary wood used as powder keeps the teeth free from all evils, and that even to smell it keeps one " yoUngly."
In Tudor days no herb was more widely grown and used _ ilentzner- mentions in his Travels (1598) that in :English .gardens the walls were .frequently covered with rosemary, and of Hampton Court he says "it 'was so' planted and nailed to the walls as to cover them entirely." ,Both in cookery and medicine the like. Of this herb Were manifold. The flowers were candied, a conserve was :made of them, and rosemary cordial. w.a..s used in every .household. Rosemary was one Of the chief -ingredients in the famous Hungary Water, the recipe for which, tradition says, was given to Queen Elizabeth of Hungary by a hermit. The original- recipe is.. treasured in what was formerly the - Imperial Library at Vienna. Hungary Water was the favourite toilet water in most European .countries for- at least two centuries. Gilded branches of the herb- tied with' different coloured ribbons were given as wedding' favours, and the bridesmaids 'wore sprigs of gilded rosemary tied to their left arms. Why do we not revive thia pretty, old custom ? Churches were decorated with bciughs of this herb at Christmas, and it was also the custom to strew the floor with it for its pleasant savour: Rosemary and bays were commonly used with holly, ivy; and -mistletoe for indoor decoration at Christ- mas-time, and in accordance' With tradition carefully removed on CandlerintS Eve. Herrick imincirtalized• this _custom. 'Above all rosemary Was the herb of frienclahip. "As for rosemary," wrote Sir Thomas More, "I late' it runtie all over my garden walls, not onlie because My bees love it, but because it is the herb sacred to remembrance and to friendship, whence a sprig of it hath a dumb language." • • In a little known seventeenth-century -poem the writer, Judge Hale, prays His Lord that He will enter his humble heart :— " And with thy leave, I'll fetch some flowers that grow
In Thine Own Garden—Faith and Love to Thee.
With these I'll dress it up, and there shall be My Rosemary and Bays. Yet when my boat Is done, the room's not fit for such a Guest,
But here's the cure—Thy presence Lord alone
Can make the stall a Court, the cratch a Throne."
ELEANOUR SINCLAIR ROHDE.
Previous page
