Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke. Actus Primus, Scena Prima • Paragraph 1403
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[Footnote IV.27: _There's rue for you; and here's some for me:--we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays:_] Probably a quibble is meant here, as _rue_ anciently signified the same as _ruth_, _i.e._, sorrow. In the common dictionaries of Shakespeare's time, it was called _herb of grace_. Ophelia wishes to remind the Queen of the sorrow and contrition she ought to feel for her unlawful marriage; and that she may wear her rue with peculiar propriety on Sundays, when she solicits pardon for the crime which she has so much occasion to _rue_ and repent of.--MALONE.]