Indeed, sir, she was the Sweet Marjoram of the salad, or rather the Herb of Grace. _Lafeu._ They are not salad-herbs, you knave, they are nose-herbs. _All's Well that Ends Well_, act iv, sc. 5 (17). Comparing (2) and (3) together, there is little doubt that the same herb is alluded to in both; and it is, perhaps, alluded to, though not exactly named, in the following: _Friar Laurence._ In man, as well as herbs, grace and rude will. _Romeo and Juliet_, act ii, sc. 3 (28). Shakespeare thus gives us the two names for the same plant, Rue and Herb of Grace, and though at first sight there seems to be little or no connection between the two names, yet really they are so closely connected, that the one name was derived from, or rather suggested by, the other. Rue is the English form of the Greek and Latin _ruta_, a word which has never been explained, and in its earlier English form of _rude_ came still nearer to the Latin original. But _ruth_ was the English word for sorrow and remorse, and _to rue_ was to be sorry for anything, or to have pity;[260:1] we still say a man will rue a particular action, _i.e._, be sorry for it; and so it was a natural thing to say that a plant which was so bitter, and had always borne the name _Rue_ or _Ruth_, must be connected with repentance. It was, therefore, the Herb of Repentance, and this was soon transformed into the Herb of Grace (in 1838 Loudon said, "It is to this day called Ave Grace in Sussex"), repentance being the chief sign of grace; and it is not unlikely that this idea was strengthened by the connection of Rue with the bitter herbs of the Bible, though it is only once mentioned, and then with no special remark, except as a tithable garden herb, together with Anise and Cummin. The Rue, like Lavender and Rosemary, is a native of the more barren parts of the coasts of the Mediterranean, and has been found on Mount Tabor, but it was one of the earliest occupants of the English Herb garden. It is very frequently mentioned in the Saxon Leech Books, and entered so largely into their prescriptions that it must have been very extensively grown. Its strong aromatic smell,[261:1] and bitter taste, with the blistering quality of the leaves, soon established its character as almost a heal-all. "Rew bitter a worthy gres (herb) Mekyl of myth and vertu is." _Stockholm MS._, 1305. Even beasts were supposed to have discovered its virtues, so that weasels were gravely said, and this by such men as Pliny, to eat Rue when they were preparing themselves for a fight with rats and serpents. Its especial virtue was an eye-salve, a use which Milton did not overlook--