significations of rosemary, and
find an explanation of why the same plant was used for both weddings and
funerals, in the fact that it emblemised remembrance by its evergreen
and fragrant qualities. One may have doubts about the truth of the story
of the man of whom it is recorded that he wanted to be married again on
the day of his wife's funeral because the rosemary which had been used
at her burial would come in usefully and economically for the wedding
ceremony. But if the story is too good to be true, there is suggestion
enough in the circumstance referred to by Shakespeare, that

'Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corpse.'

CHAPTER XI.

HERB OF GRACE.

Why did Ophelia say: 'There's rue for you, and here's some for me; we
may call it herb grace o' Sundays, for you must wear your rue with a
difference'? For the same reason that Perdita says, in The Winter's
Tale, when welcoming the guests of her reputed father and the shepherd:

'Reverend sirs,
For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep
Seeming and savour all the winter long;
Grace and remembrance be to you both,
And welcome to our shearing.'

Remembrance, as we have already seen in the last chapter, was symbolized
by the rosemary, and by both Ophelia and Perdita the rue is taken as the
symbol of grace. How this came to be is what we have now to consider;
but perhaps Mr. Ellacombe, author of Plant-Lore of Shakespeare, is
stretching rather far in suggesting that the rue was implied by Antony,
when he used the word 'grace' in addressing the weeping followers
(Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV., Scene 2) thus:

'Grace grow where these drops fall.'

What Ophelia said was: 'There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray,
love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thought. There's fennel
for you, and columbines. There's rue for you, and here's some for me. We
may call it herb-grace o' Sundays. Oh! you may wear your rue with a
difference.'

There was a method in her madness, and she was distributing her flowers
according to the characters and moods of the recipients. Fennel, for
instance, emblemised flattery, and columbine ingratitude. Rue emblemised
either remorse or repentance--either sorrow or grace--so 'you may wear
your rue with a difference.'

So we find the gardener in Richard II. saying, after the departure of
the anxious Queen:

'Here she did fall a tear; here in this place
I'll set a bank of r