[505] "Nares's Glossary," vol. i. p. 363.
[506] "Shakespeare's Garden," p. 82; see Dyce's "Glossary," p. 184.
_Harebell._ This flower, mentioned in "Cymbeline" (iv. 2), is no doubt another name for the wild hyacinth.
"thou shalt not lack The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose; nor The azured harebell, like thy veins."
_Hemlock._ In consequence of its bad and poisonous character, this plant was considered an appropriate ingredient for witches' broth. In "Macbeth" (iv. 1) we read of
Its scientific name, _conium_, is from the Greek word meaning cone or top, whose whirling motion resembles the giddiness produced on the constitution by its poisonous juice. It is by most persons supposed to be the death-drink of the Greeks, and the one by which Socrates was put to death.
_Herb of Grace_ or _Herb Grace_. A popular name in days gone by for rue. The origin of the term is uncertain. Most probably it arose from the extreme bitterness of the plant, which, as it had always borne the name _rue_ (to be sorry for anything), was not unnaturally associated with repentance. It was, therefore, the herb of repentance,[507] "and this was soon changed into 'herb of grace,' repentance being the chief sign of grace." The expression is several times used by Shakespeare. In "Richard II." (iii. 4) the gardener narrates:
"Here did she fall a tear; here, in this place I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace: Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen, In the remembrance of a weeping queen."
[507] Ellacombe's "Plant-Lore of Shakespeare," p. 204; Prior's "Popular Names of British Plants," 1870, p. 111.
In "Hamlet" (iv. 5), Ophelia, when addressing the queen, says, "There's rue for you; and here's some for me: we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays: O, you must wear your rue with a difference."[508]
[508] Cf. "All's Well that Ends Well," iv. 5; "Antony and Cleopatra," iv. 2; "Romeo and Juliet," ii. 3, where Friar Laurence says:
"In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will."
Malone observes that there is no ground for supposing that rue was called "herb of grace" from its being used in exorcisms in churches on Sunday, a notion entertained by Jeremy Taylor, who says, referring to the _Flagellum Dæmonum_, "First, they (the Romish exorcisers) are to try the devil by holy water, incense, sulphur, rue, which from thence, as we suppose, came to be called 'herb of grace.'"[509] Rue was also a common subject of puns, from being the same word which signified sorrow or pity (see "Richard II.," iii. 4, cited above).