The Mints (Mentha).
Is pleasant to the palate; poor would be
The salad lacking its fine fragrancy.
The Peppermint must not be thrown to waste;
For, when distill’d, the prudent dame well knows 5
Its worth medicinal. And then we have
Good Pennyroyal. All Mints help to save
From needless suffering ev’ry one of those
Who use them all aright. No herb that grows
But hath its uses: none were made in vain: 10
E’en poisonous plants at time can ease our pain.
Ever since Knowledge among men arose,
The wise have sought in simples for the good
Which helps to drive Death’s poisons from our blood.*
George Markham Tweddell
*Shakspere was an evident believer in their efficacy, or we never
should have had the fine passage put into the mouth of the Friar in
the opening of the first scene of the second act of his Romeo and
Juliet.
[Sonnets on Trees and Flowers, p. 21]
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