Chapter X: Part 10

[E209] "Marigolds are hote and drye, an herbe well knowen and as vsual in the kitchin as in the hal: the nature whereof is to open at the Sunne rising, and to close vp at the Sunne setting. It hath one good propertie and very profitable for Students, that is by the vse thereof the sight is sharpened. And againe the water distilled of Marigolds when it flowreth, doth help the rednesse and inflammation of the eyes if it be dropped into them, or if a linnen cloth wet in the water be laid upon them. Also the powder of Marigolds dried, being put into the hollownesse of the teeth, easeth toothach. And the juice of the herbe mingled with a little salt, and rubbed often times vpon Warts, at length weareth them away."--Cogan's Haven of Health, ch. 63. Called in the Grete Herbal _Mary Gowles_, a name that seems to have originated in the A.S. _mersc-mear-gealla_ = marsh-horse-gowl, the marsh marigold, or _caltha_, transferred to the exotic plant of our gardens and misunderstood as _Mary Gold_. It is often mentioned as Gold simply by our older poets:

"That she sprunge up out of the molde Into a floure was named _golde_." --Gower, ed. 1554, f. 120.

"The yellow marigold, the sunne's own flower," says Heywood in Marriage Triumphe, and "so called," says Hyll (Art of Gard. ch. xxx.), "for that after the rising of the sun unto noon, this flower openeth larger and larger; but after the noontime unto the setting of the sun the flower closeth more and more, so that after the setting thereof it is wholly shut up."

"The marigold observes the sun, More than my subjects me have done." --K. Charles I.

[E210] "Mercurie." A name rather vaguely applied in old works, probably the "Good Henry, _Chenopodium Bonus Henricus_." Called also "Allgood," Dutch _algoede_, Ger. _allgut_, from Lat. _tota bona_, Cotgrave and Palsgrave _toutte bonne_, on account of its excellent qualities as a remedy and as an esculent; hence the proverb: "Be thou sick or whole, put _Mercury_ in thy koale."--Cogan, Haven of Health, ch. 28. "The Barons Mercury, or male Phyllon dronken, causeth to engender male children, and the Mayden Mercurie, or gyrles Phyllon dronken, causeth to engender Gyrles or Daughters."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 78.

It is still much grown in some districts, as in Lincolnshire (where it is called "Marquerry"), being boiled and eaten as spinach.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E211] "Nep," common Cat-mint. "Dronken with honied water is good for them that haue fallen from a lofte, and haue some bruse or squat, and bursting, for it digesteth the congeled and clotted bloud, and is good for the payne of the bowels, the shortnesse of breath, the oppillation or stopping of the breast, and against the Jaundice."--Lyte, p. 148. See also Gerard's Herbal, 1633. "Nepe, herbe, _Coloquintida, cucurbita_."--Prompt. Parv. "Neppe, an herbe, _herbe du chat_."--Palsgrave. Forby gives the Norfolk simile "as white as _nep_," in allusion to the white down which covers this plant.

The plant referred to in the quotation from the Prompt. Parv. is not that meant by Tusser.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E212] "Orach," _Atriplex hortensis_, or _sativa_, formerly _Arach_, Prompt. Parv. _Arage_, in MS. Harl. 979 _Arasches_, Fr. _arroche_, from Low Lat. _aurago_ from _aurum_ = gold, by the addition to it of _ago_ = wort, as in plantago, lappago, etc. At the same time its use in the cure of jaundice, _aurugo_, may have fixed upon the plant the name of the disease.

"_Atriplicem_ tritam cum nitro, melle, et aceto, Dicunt appositam calidam sedare podagram: _Ictericis_ dicitque Galenus tollere morbum Illius semen cum vino sæpius haustum." --Macer, cap. xxviii. l. 7, quoted by Dr. Prior.

[E213] "Patience," called in Lyte's Dodoens, p. 559, "Wild Docke," and stated to be a remedy for jaundice, the "bitinges and stinginges of Scorpions," and the tooth ache, and if "hanged about the necke it doth helpe the kinges euill or swelling in the throte."

[E214] If the virtues of Penny Royal, as stated in Lyte's Dodoens, p. 232, be true, the use of it might now be advantageously adopted by the consumers of London drinking water. He says: "If at any time men be constrayned to drinke _corrupt, naughtie, stinking,_ or salte water, throw Penny royal into it, or strow the pouder thereof into it, and it shall not hurte any bodie." It is sometimes called Pudding-grass, from its being used to make stuffings for meat, formerly called _puddings_. It is recommended by Andrew Boorde (Dyetary, ed. E.E.T. Soc. p. 281) as a remedy for melancholy, and to comfort the spirits of men.

[E215] "Primerose," from _Pryme rolles_, the name it bears in old books and MSS. The Grete Herball, ch. cccl. says: "It is called _Pryme Rolles_ of _pryme tyme_, because it beareth the first floure in _pryme tyme_." It is also so called in Frere Randolph's Catalogue. Chaucer writes it in one word _primerole_. (See also MS. Addit. 11, 307, f. 37:

"He shal ben lyk the lytel bee That seketh the blosme on the tre, And souketh on the _prumorole_.")

_Primerole_ is an abbreviation of Fr. _primeverole_, It. _primaverola_, dimin. of _prima vera_, from _fior di prima vera_ = the first spring flower. Primerole, as an outlandish unintelligible word, was soon familiarized into _prime rolles_, and this into _primrose_. This is explained in popular works as meaning the first rose of the spring, a name that never could have been given to a plant that in form and colour is so unlike a rose. But the rightful claimant is, strange to say, the _daisy_, which in the South of Europe is a common and conspicuous flower in early spring, while the _primrose_ is an extremely rare one, and it is the _daisy_ that bears the name in all the old books. See Fuchs, Hist. Stirpium, 1542, p. 145, where there is an excellent figure of it, titled _primula veris_; and the Ortus Sanitatis, ed. Augsb. 1486, ch. cccxxxiii., where we have a very good woodcut of a daisy titled "masslieben, _Premula veris_, Latine." Brunfelsius, Novum Herbarium, ed. 1531, speaking of the Herba paralysis, the cowslip, says, p. 1590, expressly, "Sye würt von etlichen Doctores _Primula veris_ genaunt, das doch falsch ist wann _Primula veris_ ist matsomen oder zeitlosen." Brunschwygk (De Arte Distillandi, 1500, book ii. c. viii.) uses the same words. The Zeitlose is the daisy. Parkinson (Th. Bot. p. 531) assigns the name to both the daisy and the primrose. Matthioli (ed. Frankfort, 1586, p. 653) calls his Bellis Major "_Primo fiore maggiore_, seu _Fiore di prima vera_, nonnullis _Primula veris major_" and figures the moon-daisy. His Bellis minor, which seems to be our daisy, he calls "_Primo fiore minore, Fior di primavera_, Gallis _Marguerites_, Germanis _Masslieben_." At p. 883, he figures the cowslip, and calls that also "_Primula veris_, Italis _Fiore di primavera_, Gallis _primevere_."--Dr. Prior's Pop. Names of British Plants. "_Petie Mulleyn_ (whiche we call _Cowslippe_ and _Primerose_) is of two sortes. The smaller sorte, which we call Primerose, _Herbasculum minus_, is of diuers kindes, as yellow and greene, single and dubble."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 122.

Lupton (Book of Notable Things, v. 89) speaks of "Primroses, which some take to be Daisies."--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E216] "Rosemary," Lat. _rosmarinus_, sea-spray, from its usually growing on the sea-coast and its odour, is recommended by Lyte for fastening loose teeth. "Take of rewe a grete quantite, and sawge halfe als mekille, and _rosemaryne_ the same quantitee."--MS. Linc. Med. f. 283. According to Andrew Boorde it is a remedy for "palses and for the fallynge syckenes, and for the cowghe, and good agaynst colde."

[E217] "Safron," Sp. _azafran_, from Arabic _al zahafaran_. On the cultivation, etc., of Saffron in England, there is a long account in Harrison's Description of England, book iii. cap. 24. See note E354.

[E218] "Spinage." "Called in Arabic _Hispanach_; 'Arabicæ factionis principes _Hispanach_, hoc est, Hispanicum olus nominant.'--Fuchs, Hist. Stirp. p. 668. Dodoens (bk. v. 1. 5) tells us, '_Spinachiam_ nostra ætas appellat, nonnulli _spinacheum_ olus. Ab Arabibus et Serapione _Hispanac_ dicitur.' Brunfelsius (ed. 1531) says expressly at p. 16, 'Quæ vulgo _spinachia_ hodie, Atriplex _Hispaniensis_ dicta est quondam; eo quod ab Hispania primum allata est ad alias exteras nationes.' Tragus also calls it _Olus Hispanicum_; Cotgrave, _Herbe d'Espaigne_; and the modern Greeks σπαναχιον [Greek: spanachion]."--Dr. R. A. Prior.

[E219] Lyte, p. 642, says: "_Cyues_ or Rushe onions: this kinde of Leekes is called in English Cyues, and of Turner in Latine, _Cepa pallacana_, and in Greke Gethyun, which he Englisheth by al these names, a Cyue, a Civet, a Chyue, or _Sweth_."

[E220] "Tanzie," Fr. _athanasie_, contracted to _tanacée_ and _tanaisie_. Lyte says, p. 18, that it was sold in the shops under the name of _Athanasia_, the Greek word for immortality, and that it was so called, "quod non cito flos inarexat." A cake used to be made in which tansy was one of the ingredients, and which was called Tansay-Cake. The following recipe for it is given in MS. Sloane 1986, f. 100:

"Breke egges in bassyn, and swynge hem sone, Do powder of peper therto anone, Then grynde _tansay_, tho juse owte wrynge, To blynde with tho egges, withowte lesynge. In pan or skelet thou shalt hit frye, In buttur well skymm et wyturly, Or white grece thou may take therto, Geder hit on acake, thenne hase thou do, With platere of tre, and frye hit browne, On brodeleches serve hit thou schalle, With fraunche-mele* or other metis withalle."

* A dish composed chiefly of eggs and sheeps' fat.

In Halliwell's Dict. is also given a recipe for a dish called _Tansie_. Cogan, in his Haven of Health, p. 65, says: "It is much vsed among vs in England about Easter, with fried egs, not without good cause, to purge away the fleame engendred of fish in Lent season, whereof wormes are soone bred in them that be thereto disposed, though the common people vnderstand not the cause, why _Tansies_ are more vsed after Lent, than at any other time of the yeare." "To prevent being Bug-bitten. Put a sprig or two of _Tansy_ at the bed head, or as near the pillow as the smell may be agreeable."--T. Cosnett's Footman's Directory, p. 292. "For to dystroy a Wrang Nayle, othewyse callyd a Corne. Take wylde _tansey_, and grynde yt, and make yt neshe, and ley it therto, and it wyl bryng yt owght."--Lambeth MS. 306, f. 65, quoted in Political, Relig. and Love Poems (E. E. Text Soc. ed. Furnivall), p. 36.

The wild tansey is not Tusser's plant.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E221] "Blessed Thistle." "So worthily named for the singular vertues that it hath.... It sharpneth the wit and memorie, strengthneth all the principall parts of the bodie, quickneth all the senses, comforteth the stomacke, procureth appetite, and hath a speciall vertue against poyson, and preserueth from the Pestilence, and is excellent good against any kinde of Feuer, being vsed in this manner: Take a dramme of the powder, put it into a good draught of ale or wine, warme it and drink it a quarter of an hour before the fit doth come, then goe to bed, couer you well with clothes and procure sweate, which by the force of the herbe will easily come foorth, and so continue vntill the fit be past.... For which notable effects this herbe may worthily be called _Benedictus_ or _Omnimorbia_, that is a salue for euery sore, not knowen to Physitians of old time, but lately reuealed by the speciall providence of Almighty God."--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 545.

[E222] "Purslane," in Turner's Herball _Purcellaine_, in the Grete Herball _Porcelayne_, in Dodoens _Purcelayne_. "It is good against St. Antonies fier, called _erysipelas_."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 576. "Purslain in Latin is called _Portulaca, a portula_ = a little gate, because they fancied it to be like one."--Lemery's Treatise on Foods, 1704, p. 92.

[E223] "Rampions," Fr. _raiponce_, "a word mistaken as in the case of _cerise_ and _pease_, for a plural, and the _m_ inserted for euphony."--Dr. Prior, Popular Names of British Plants.

[E224] "Men say that who so taketh the seede of Rockat before he be beaten or whipt, shalbe so hardened that he shall easily endure the payne, according as Plinie writeth."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 622. What a pity Tusser did not know of this property of the Rocket! from his own account he had plenty of opportunities of testing it at Eton.

[E225] "Sage causeth wemen to be fertill, wherefore in times past the people of Egypt, after a great mortalite and pestilence, constreyned their wemen to drinke the iuyce therof, to cause them the sooner to conceyue, and to bring foorth store of children."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 252.

[E226] "Sea holie." _Eryngium maritimum_, Linn. "The leaves are good to be eaten in sallads."--Langham's Garden of Health. "The young and tender shoots are eaten of divers either raw or pickled."--Parkinson, Theatrum Botanicum, 1640, p. 988.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E227] "Sampere is a weede growing neare the sea-side, and is very plentifull about the Ile of Man, from whence it is brought to diuers parts of England, preserved in Brine, and is no lesse wholesome than Capers."--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 64. The Eng. Samphire is a corruption of the Fr. Herbe de _Saint Pierre_, from its growing on the rocks on the sea-shore. The leaves are used in the form of a pickle as an article of diet.

[E228] "The _Ionians_ had so much Veneration for them that they swore by _Cabbages_, and were therein as superstitious as the _Egyptians_, who gave divine Honours to _Leeks_ and _Onions_, for the great Benefits which they said they received from them."--Lemery's "Treatise on Foods," 1704, p. 73.

[E229] "Citrons," according to Lyte, p. 704, will cure "tremblynge of the hart and pensiue heavinesse, wamblynges, vomitinges, and lothsomnesse of the stomache." The citron was probably introduced into Europe with the orange by the Arab conquerors of Spain, and first received in England from that country. By a MS. in the Tower it appears that in 1290, 18 Edw. I., a large Spanish ship came to Portsmouth, and that from her cargo Queen Eleanor purchased Seville figs, dates, pomegranates, 15 _Citrons_, and 7 _poma de orenge_.--Way in Prompt. Parv.

[E230] "The garden Basill is called in English _Basill Royall_ or _Basill gentle_, and the smaller kinde is called _Bushse_ (sic) _Basill_. The herbe brused with vineger and holden to the nose of suche as are faynt and fallen into a sound bringeth them againe to themselues, and the seede therof giuen to be smelled upon causeth the sternutation or niesing."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 241. "One thing I read in Hollerius (Lib. i. cap. i.) of Basill, which is wonderfull. 'A certaine Italian, by often smelling to Basill, had a scorpion bred in his braine, and after vehement and long paines he died thereof.'"--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 50. See also 51. 34.

[E231] "Costmary, L. _Costus amarus_, Fr. _coste amere_, misunderstood as _Costus Mariæ_, an error that has very naturally arisen from this plant having been dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, and called after her, _Maudlin_, either in allusion to her box of scented ointment, or to its use in the uterine affections over which she presided. In old authors it occurs as _Herba sanctæ_ or _divæ Mariæ_."--Dr. R. Prior, Popular Names of Brit. Plants. Called also Alecost from its having formerly been esteemed an agreeable aromatic bitter, and much used for flavouring ale: "If you list to make a pleasant drinke, and comfortable to the stomache, put certaine handfuls of this herbe in the bottome of a vesselle, and tunne up new Ale vpon it."--Cogan, Haven of Health, ch. 69.

[E232] "Paggles," spelt also Paigle, Pagle, Pagel, Peagle, Pegyll and Pygil, a name now confined to the Eastern Counties, and generally assigned to the Cowslip, but by Ray and Moor to the _Ranunculus bulbosus_. The derivation is uncertain. "Blake (yellow) as a paigle."--Ray. In Suffolk the name is applied to the Crowfoot, the _Cuckoo-flower_.

[E233] "Our common germander or thistle benet is found and knowne to bee so wholesome and of so great power in medicine, as anie other hearbe, if they be vsed accordinglie."--Harrison, Descript. of Eng., ed. Furnivall, pt. i. p. 326. "The iuyce of the leaues mengled with oyle, and straked vpon the eyes, driueth away the white cloude, called the Hawe or Pearle in the eye, and all manner dimness of the same."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 25.

[E234] "That which is commonly called Sothernewood is the male kinde of this herbe, and that which we doe call _Lauender-cotten_ is the female, named in Latine _Cypressus_ or _Santolina_. The setting of _Lauender-cotten_ within the house in floure pots must needes be very wholesome, for it driveth away venemous wormes, both by strawing, and by the sauour of it, and being drunke in wine it is a remedie against poyson."--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 56.

[E235] "Mawdelin," spelt also _Maudlin, Mawdeleyn_ and _Maudeline_, appears to have derived its name similarly to _Costmary_, q.v., and to have been applied to the same uses.

[E236] "Baies," Bays, from French _baie_, which is formed from Lat. _bacca_ = a berry. In old writers _bay_ is used for a _berry_ generally, as "the bayes of ivyne," but in time the term came to be applied to the berries of the _sweet bay_, called by Virgil _lauri baccas_, from their being an article of commerce; from the berry the term was extended to the tree itself.

[E237] "Bachelor's Buttons." So called, according to Johnson's Gerarde, p. 472, "from their similitude to the jagged cloathe buttons anciently worne in this kingdom," but according to others from "a habit of country fellows to carry them in their pockets to divine their success with their sweethearts." Called by Lyte (Dodoens, p. 421), _Goldcup_ or _Gold knoppe_, and described as a double variety of the flower now known so well as the Butterflower, or Buttercup, the Fr. _bouton d'or_.

[E238] "Columbine," called Colourbine in Lincoln, _Aquilegia vulgaris_, used for making stuffed chine.

"There are many sorts of Colombines, as well differing in forme as colour of the flowers, and of them both single and double carefully noursed up in our gardens, for the delight both of their forme and colours."--Parkinson, _Paradisus_, 1629, p. 271.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E239] "Daffadowndilly, Daffodilly, Affodilly, and Daffodil, Lat. _asphodelus_, from which was formed Affodilly, the name of it in all the older writers, but subsequently confused with that of another flower, the so-called _sapharoun_ or saffron _lily_:

"'The thyrde _lylye_ ȝyt there ys, That ys called felde lylye, y wys, Hys levys be lyke to _sapharoun_, Men know yt therby many one.' --MS. Sloane, 1571.

"With the taste for alliteration that is shown in popular names, the _Sapharoun-lily_, upon blending with _affodilly_, became, by a sort of mutual compromise, _daffadowndilly_, whence our _daffodilly_ and _daffodil_."--Dr. R. A. Prior, Popular Names of British Plants. "Strew me the ground with daffadowndillies."--Spenser, Shep. Cal. 140.

[E240] "Eglantine," a word of doubtful origin. Chaucer writes it _eglatere_ and _eglentere_. Fr. _aiglantier_, Prov. _aiglentina_ = wild rose. Diez derives it from Lat. _aculeus_ = a prickle, through the adj. _aculentus_.

[E241] Feverfew (_Pyrethrum parthenium_), a genus of Composite plants, common in our gardens, and deriving its name from having long been employed as a popular remedy in ague and other fevers, and as an emmenagogue. It appears to possess stimulant and tonic properties. It is a perennial plant, and may attain a height of one or two feet. Its leaves are flat and broad, its flowers small. It is nearly allied to Camomile. The variety grown in gardens is well known under the name of "golden feather."

[E242] "Flower armor," evidently the _Floramor_, Fr. _fleur d'amour_, from a misconception of its Latin name _Amaranthus_, as though a compound of _Amor_, love, and _anthus_, a flower.

[E243] "Flower de luce," the _flos deliciarum_ of the Middle Ages. Ducange, quoting from the history of the Harcourts, says:--"Thomas, Dux Exoniæ habet comitatum de Harcourt ... per homagium ac reddendum _florem deliciarum_ apud Castrum de Rouen," etc. (A.D. 1423). Another derivation is as follows:--"Louis VII. dit le Jeune, prit le premier des _fleurs de lis_, par allusion à son nom de Loys (comme on l'écrivait alors). On a dit dans ce temps-là _Fleur de Loys_, puis _Fleur de Louis_, enfin, _Fleur de Lis_." (Grandmaison, Dict. Heraldique.) The flower that he chose seems to have been a _white_ one, for Chaucer says:

"His nekke was white as is the flour de lis."

In E. K.'s Glossary to Spenser's Shep. Cal. April, we read "_Flower delice_, that which they use to misterme _Flowre deluce_ being in the Latine called _Flos delitiarum_."

[E244] According to Lyte the Flower Gentle is identical with the Floramor (see above). Various species of _Amaranthus_, including the Flower amor (43. 10), and what we now call _Celosia cristata_, or Cockscomb, were included under this name. Parkinson (Paradisus, p. 370) says: "We have foure or five sorts of Flower-gentle to trimme up this our Garden withall."--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E245] "Gilliflower, formerly spelt _gyllofer_ and _gilofre_ with the _o_ long, from Fr. _giroflée_, ltal. _garofalo_, in Douglas's Virgil _jereflouris_, words formed from M. Lat. _garoffolum, gariofilum_, or, as in Albert Magn. (lib. vi. cap. 22), _gariofilus_, corrupted from Lat. _caryophyllum_ = a clove, and referring to the spicy odour of the flower, which seems to have been used in flavouring wines to replace the more costly clove of India. The name was originally given in India to plants of the Pink tribe, especially the carnation, but has in England been transferred of late years to several Cruciferous plants. That of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakspere was, as in Italy, _Dianthus caryophyllus_, Linn., that of later writers and gardeners _Matthiola_ and _Cheiranthus_, Linn. Much of the confusion in the names of plants has arisen from the vague use of the French terms _Giroflée, Oeillet_, and _Violette_, which were, all three of them, applied to flowers of the Pink tribe, but subsequently extended, and finally restricted in English to very different plants. _Giroflée_ has become _Gilliflower_, and passed over to the _Cruciferæ, Oeillet_ has been restricted to the _Sweet Williams_, and _Violette_ has been appropriated to one of the numerous claimants of its name, the genus to which the pansy belongs."--Dr. R. A. Prior.

[E246] "Holiokes," in Huloet's Dict. Holy Hoke. Wedgwood (Etym. Dict.) derives it from A.S. _hoc_, Welsh _hocys_ = a mallow, and says that it obtained the title of _Holy_ from its being brought from the Holy Land, where it is indigenous.

[E247] "Indian Eie." This was probably a _Dianthus_ of some kind (French _œillet_), the same perhaps which is now grown in our gardens as Indian or Chinese Pink.

[E248] _Laus tibi_, "a narcissus with white flowers. It groweth plenteously in my Lorde's garden in Syon and it is called of divers White Laus tibi."--Turner's Herball, pt. ii. b. 2. "It is very difficult to ascertain what plant was meant by this name, which is also mentioned by Turner in his 'Names of Herbes' (1548), and in his 'Libellus' (1538), where there is a long disquisition concerning it. It may be _Narcissus poeticus_, L., as Mr. B. D. Jackson supposes in his reprint of the 'Libellus' or possibly _N. biflorus_, L."--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E249] "Lillium cum vallium," the "Lily of the Valley," in Lyte _Lyllie Conuall_, and also termed _May Blossoms, May Lyllies_, and _Lyryconfancy_.

[E250] "Nigella Romana." The _Nigella Damascena_, Linn., a favourite old-fashioned garden annual, still to be met with in gardens under the names of "Love-in-a-mist," or "Devil-in-a-bush."

[E251] "Pansy," or Paunce, Fr. _pensée_, thought. According to Dr. Johnson the name is derived from Lat. _panacea_, but there is no evidence of the plant ever having been so called, or having been regarded as a panacea. It has received more popular names perhaps than any other plant, both in our own and in foreign languages. The following are some of the quaint titles given to it: "Cull me to you," or "Cuddle me to you," "Love and Idle," "Live in Idleness," "Love in Idleness" (originally "Love in idle," _i.e._ in vain); "Love in idle Pances," "Tittle my fancy," "Kiss me, ere I rise," "Jump up and kiss me," "Kiss me at the garden gate," "Pink of my John," "Herb Trinity," and "Three faces under one hood," from the three colours combined in one flower. It was also called "Hearts-ease," and "Flame flower" (M. Lat. _Viola flammea_).

_Heartsease_, a term meaning "_a cordial_," as in Sir W. Scott's Antiquary, ch. xi., "Buy a dram to be eilding and claise, and a supper and _hearts-ease_ into the bargain," given to certain plants supposed to be cardiac: at present [applied] to the _pansy_ alone, but by Lyte, Bulleyn, and W. Turner, to the _Wallflower_ equally.--Dr. R. A. Prior's Popular Names of British Plants, which see for an account of the origin of the name.

[E252] "Sops-in-Wine," the Clove Gilliflower, _Dianthus caryophyllus_, L., so called from the flowers being used to flavour wine or ale. Cf. Chaucer's Rime of Sir Thopas, B. 1950:

"Ther springen herbes grete and smale, The lycorys and cetewale, And many a clowe gilofre, And notemuge to putte in ale, Whether it be moyste or stale."

"Bring Coronations and _Sops in wine_ worne of Paramoures."
---Spenser, Shep. Cal. April.

"Garlands of Roses and _Sopps in Wine_."--Ibid. May. E. K., in his Glossary, says: "_Sops in Wine_, a flowre in colour much like a _coronation_ (carnation), but differing in smel and quantitye."

[E253] "Sweete Williams,"from Fr. _œillet_, Lat. _ocellus_, a little eye, corrupted to _Willy_, and thence to _William_, "in reference, perhaps, to a popular ballad, 'Fair Margaret and Sweet William,' [printed in Ritson's Early Songs and Ballads, ed. Hazlitt, 1877] a name assigned by W. Bulleyn (f. 48) to the Wallflower, but by later herbalists and modern gardeners, as here, to a species of pink, _Dianthus barbatus_, Linn. According to an article in the Quarterly Review (No. 227), it formerly bore the name of 'Sweet Saint William'; but the writer gives no reference, and probably had no authority for saying so."--Dr. R. A. Prior, pp. 228 and 250.

[E254] "Sweete Johns." Apparently a variety of Sweet William. See Parkinson's "Paradisus," pp. 319, 321, for descriptions and figures: "The chiefe differences betweene them are, that [Sweet Williams] have broader, and darker greene leaues, somewhat brownish, especially towards the points, and that the flowers stand thicker and closer, and more in number together, in the head or tuft."--Note by Mr. J. Britten,, F.L.S.

[E255] "Star of Jerusalem." This is usually _Tragopogon pratensis_, L., as in Gerard, p. 736, but some other plant is likely to be meant here.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E256] "Tuft gilleflowers." Probably some low-growing _Dianthus_, such as that figured as "Matted Pinkes" by Parkinson (Paradisus, p. 315).--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E257] "Veluet flowers," according to Dr. Prior, the "love-lies-bleeding," _Amaranthus caudatus_, Linn., from its crimson velvety tassels; according to Lyte, the same as the Flower Gentle, or Floramor, Fr. _passevelours, A. tricolor_, Linn.

[E258] "Eyebright." "Divers Authours write that goldfinches, linnets, and some other Birds make use of this Herb for the repairing of their own and their young ones sight."--Coles, "Adam in Eden," 1657, p. 46. It is the "Euphrasy" of Milton, P. L. xi. 414. A similar story is told of the Hawk-weed. See Pliny (lib. xx. c. 7).

[E259] "Fumetorie," Fr. _fume terre_, Lat. _fumus terræ_, earth-smoke, it being believed to be produced without seed from vapours arising from the earth, as stated by Platearius: "Dicitur _fumus terræ_, quod generatur a quadam fumositate grossâ, a terrâ resolutâ, et circa superficiem terræ adherente." Pliny (lib. xxv. c. 13) says that it takes its name from causing the eyes to water when applied to them, as smoke does;

"Take youre laxatives
Of lauriol, centaure, and _fumytere_."
--Chaucer, Nonnes Prestes Tale, 143.

See Burton's Anat. of Melancholy, pp. 432-3 and 438, ed. 1845.

[E260] "Woodrofe," spelt according to an old distich thus:

"Double U, double O, double D, E, R, O, double U, double F, E."

It derives its name originally from the Fr. _roue_ = a wheel, dimin. _rouelle_, the leaves being set on the stems so as to resemble the large _rowels_ of ancient spurs.

[E261] "Archangel." This is _Archangelica officinalis_, the stalks of which "were formerly blanched and eaten as Celeri.... The gardeners near London, who have ditches of water running through their gardens, propagate great quantities of this plant, for which they have a great demand from the confectioners, who make a sweetmeat with the tender stalks of it cut in May."--Martyn's ed. of Miller's Gardener's Dictionary. It is still sometimes grown in gardens for use in the above-mentioned manner. According to Cogan (Haven of Health, p. 71), it will cure the bite of a mad dog.

[E262] According to Cogan "Cummin" was extensively used for washing the face, it having the effect, if not used too often, of making the complexion clear; if used to excess, it caused paleness. He continues, "In Matthiolus (lib. 3, cap. 60) I reade a practise to be wrought with _Cummine_ seedes, and (as I thinke) hath been vsed in time past of Monkes and Friers. They that counterfait holinesse and leannesse of bodie, doe often vse Cummine seedes in their meates, and be perfumed therewith."--Haven of Health, p. 47.

[E263] "Detanie." Dittany (_Origanum onites_, Linn.) was commonly cultivated in gardens at this period. Gerard, p. 795, says it is "a hot and sharpe hearbe," and speaks of it as biting the tongue.

[E264] Gromell, Grummel, or Gray myle, as Turner says it should be written, from _granum solis_ and _milium solis_ together. "That is al one," says the Grete Herbal, "_granum solis_ and _milium solis_." The common _gromwell_ or gray millet, _Lithospermum officinale_, Linn., was formerly esteemed as a remedy for the stone and other diseases. In a treatise on the virtues of plants, written in the 15th century, Roy. MS. 18 A. vi. f. 766, the following description is given: "_Granum solis_ ys an herbe þat me clepyþ _gromel_, or lyþewale: thys herbe haþ leuys þat be euelong, and a lytyl white flour, and he haþ whyte seede ischape as a ston that me clepyþ margery perl." Cotgrave gives "Gremil, grenil, the hearb _gromill, grummell_, or _graymill_, peare-plant, lichewall." The word is derived by Skinner "_a granis sc. lapideis, quæ pro seminibus habet, q.d. granile._"--Way, in Prompt. Parv. "Grumelle, _milium, gramen solis_."--Catholicon Anglicum.

[E265] "Louage," spelt in Prompt. Parv. and in Holland's Trans. of Pliny, _love-ache_, as though it were love-parsley. French _levesche_, A.S. _lufestice, Levisticum officinale_, Koch.

[E266] "Mandrake." Matthioli (lib. iv. c. 61) tells us that Italian ladies in his own time had been known to pay as much as 25 and 30 ducats for one of the artificial mandrakes (common white bryony) of itinerant quacks, and describes the process of their manufacture. They were supposed to remove sterility; hence Rachel's anxiety to obtain them (Genesis xxx. 14). There were numerous other superstitions regarding this plant; amongst others it was said to shriek when torn up. See Gerard's Herbal, 1597, p. 280, and Peacock's Glossary of Manley, etc., E. D. Soc. Lupton (Book of Notable Things, iii. 39) gives instructions for the manufacture of Mandrakes from bryony roots. The true Mandrake is _Atropa Mandragora_, Linn.

[E267] Mogwort. "Mugwort, a name that corresponds in meaning with its synonym _wyrmwyrt_, wormwood, from O.E. _mough, moghe_, or _moughte_, a maggot or moth.

'And wormes and _moghes_ on þe same manere Sal þat day be in wittenes broght;' --Hampole, Pricke of Conscience, l. 5572;

and Wycliffe (Matt. vi. 20):

'Where neþer ruste ne _moughte_ destruyeþ.'

The name was given to this plant from its having been recommended by Dioscorides to ward off the attacks of these insects. 'Mogwort, al on as seyn some, modirwort: lewed folk þat in manye wordes conne no rygt sownynge, but ofte shortyn wordys, and changyn lettrys and silablys, þey corruptyn þe _o_ into _u_, and _d_ into _g_, and syncopyn _i_, smytyn awey _i_ and _r_, and seyn mugwort.'--MS. Arundel, 42, f. 35. It is unnecessary to have recourse to this singular process. The plant was known both as a _moth-wort_ and as a _mother-wort_, but while it was used almost exclusively as a _mother-wort_, it still retained, at the same time, the name of _mugwort_, a synonym of _moth-wort_. In Ælfric's glossary it is called _matrum herba_--Dr. R. A. Prior. See Brand's Pop. Antiq. for an account of the superstitious custom of seeking under the root of this plant on Midsummer-eve for a coal, to serve as a talisman against many disasters.

[E268] "Rew." Shakspere, Hamlet, iv. 5. 181: "There's rue for you; and here's some for me: we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays." And Winter's Tale, iv. 4. 74:

"For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep Seeming and savour all the winter long: Grace and remembrance be to you both."

Some suppose it to have been called "herb of grace" on account of the many excellent properties it was held to possess, being a specific against poison, the bites of venomous creatures, etc.; but probably it was so called because "rue" means "repent." Cf. also Richard II. Act iii. sc. 4. 105:

"Here in this place
I'll set a bank of _rue_, sour herb of grace."

[E269] "Bots." "Pease an beanes are as danke here as a dog, and this is the next way to give poor jades the _bottes_."--Shakspere King Henry IV. Act ii. sc. 1. "Begnawne with _bots_."--Taming of Shrew, Act iii. sc. 2.

"Sauin." "It is often put into horses' drenches, to helpe to cure them of the bots, and other diseases."--Parkinson, Paradisus, p. 607.

[E270] "Stitchwort," spelt _Stich-wurt_ in Mayer and Wright, Nat. Antiquities, 1857, and given from a thirteenth century MS. as the translation of "Valeriane." Supposed to possess the power of curing a pain or _stitch_ in the sides.--See Gerard's Herbal, 1597, p. 43. _Stellaria Holostea_, Linn.

[E271] "Woodbine," not a _bine_ that _grows in woods_, but a creeper that binds or entwines trees, the honeysuckle. A.S. _wudu-winde_ and _wudu-bind_, from _wudu_ = a tree, and _windan, bindan_ = to entwine. In Shakspere (Mids. Night Dr. Act iv. sc. 1) it seems to mean the bittersweet:

"So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle Gently entwist."

[E272] "Gregorie." "This day (12th March) seems to have been much used as a date for agricultural observances: cf. 37. 3. In connexion with this it is worth while to note the Suabian saying, 'Säe Erbsen Gregori' (sow cabbage on St. Gregory's Day). See Swainson's Weather Folklore, p. 168."--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E273] "Mastiues and Mungrels." Although the influence of a very patriotic sumptuary tax has diminished the number of dogs, we have still 'thousands too manie.' [This may with truth be said even still.] However, as Lent now makes little difference in the mode of living, which it certainly did in the earlier period of the Reformation, our dogs are not driven by our meagre fare to prey on the lambs; and therefore need not be particularly watched on this account.--M. Mastif is derived from O. Fr. _mestif_ = a mongrel (Cotgrave). In the Craven dialect a great dog is still called a _masty_. See note E35.

[E274] By "hooke or by crooke" occurs in Spenser, Faery Queene, Bk. v. Canto 2, stanza 27; also in Heywood's Works, 1562, reprint 1867, p. 35.

[E275] No trees appear preferable to willows for fencing hop grounds; and none are said to be worse than elms, as they attract mildews.--M.

[E276] "What better to skilfull," etc., that is, what can be more profitable to the experienced farmer than to know when to be bold, that is, to venture the early sowing of barley?

[E277] The Mayweed (_Anthemis cotula_) is common in corn-fields and hedgerows. "May-weed or stinking camomile."--T.R. "Resembling cammomil but of a stinking savour and odious to bees." Coles' Dict. 1676.

[E278] Cockle or _Cokyl_ was used by Wycliffe and other old writers in the sense of a weed generally, but in later works has been confined to the _gith_ or _corn-pink_.

[E279] Our author's meaning is, sow barley, oats and pease above furrows and harrow them in; while rye is best ploughed in with a shallow furrow.

[E280] "Without cost," that is, on which no expense has been incurred.

[E281] Watering is necessary in dry seasons for what is fresh _set_ or planted, but not for what is newly sown.

[E282] It is to be lamented, both on account of the health and the finances of the poor, that they are so much attached, either to solid food, or to watery infusions of tea. Herbs, pulse and roots might often supersede more expensive articles of diet. Spoonmeat, in this part of the island at least, is in no high request at this period, though it appears to have been indispensable formerly.--M.

[E283] "There remaineth yet a third kinde of meats, which is neither fish nor flesh, commonly called _white meats_, as egges, milk, butter, cheese, which notwithstanding proceede and come of flesh, as egges from the henne, and milk from the cowe. Yet because they are not plainely flesh, they are permitted to be eaten upon the fish daies."--Cogan's Haven of Health, ed. 1612, p. 149.

"But how soeuer this case standeth, _white meats_, as milke, butter and cheese, which were neuer so deere as in my time, and woont to be accounted of as one of the chiefe staies throughout the Iland, are now reputed as foods appertinent onelie to the inferiour sort, whilest such as are more wealthie, doo feed vpon the flesh of all kinds of cattell accustomed to be eaten, all sorts of fish taken vpon our coasts and in our fresh rivers, and such diuersitie of wild and tame foules as are either bred in our Iland or brought ouer vnto vs from other countries of the maine."--Harrison, Descript. of England, ed. Furnivall, Part I. p. 144. _White meats_ in Lincoln now mean the flesh of lamb, veal, rabbits, chickens, pheasants, etc.

[E284] "Count best the best cheape": "For it doth the buyer more credit and service."--Ray. We still say "Cheap and nasty;" and in the Towneley Mysteries, p. 102, there is the same sentiment:

"Men say lyght chepe letherly for yeeldys,"

equivalent to our English proverb: "Light cheap, litter yield."

[E285] It is always advisable to pay carpenters their fair wages, without any allowance of chips, which is a great temptation for them to waste timber.--M. In hewing timber, if the workman hews square, the seller of the timber loses all the gain of the _Wane edges_, which gain in short is a cheat, although a very customary one.--T.R.

[E286] "Within these fortie yeeres we shall haue little great timber growing aboue fortie yeeres old; for it is commonlie seene that those yong _staddles_ which we leaue standing at one and twentie yeeres fall, are vsuallie at the next sale cut downe without any danger of the statute, and serue for fire bote, if it please the owner to burne them."--Harrison, Part I. p. 345. "There is a Statute made, 35 Henry the 8, and the 1 Eliz. for the presentation of timber trees, Oake, Ash, Elme, Aspe, and Beech: and that 12 storers and _standils_ should bee left standing at euery fall, vpon an acre."--Norden's Surveyor's Dialogue, 1607, p. 213. On the decrease in woods, etc., in England, see Harrison's Description of England (New Shakspere Soc. edit. F. J. Furnivall, Part I. p. 344) and Norden's Surveyor's Dialogue, 1607, p. 214, in the latter of which one cause is stated to be the large number of hammers and furnaces for the manufacture of iron, and the quantity of charcoal used in the glass-houses; there being, as he says: "now or lately in Sussex, neere 140 hammers and furnaces for iron, and in it, and Surry adjoyning 3,400 glasse houses: the hammers and furnaces spend, each of them, in every 24 houres 2, 3 or foure loades of charrcoale."--p. 215. "There is a Law in Spaine, that he that cuts down _one Tree_, shall plant _three_ for it."--A Treatise of Fruit Trees, R. A. Austin, Oxford, 1657, p. 128.

[E287] "Leaue oxen abrode," etc. The Author of Tusser Redivivus is supported in his reading of this line by the edition of 1597, which has "leaue _not_ oxe abrode." The sense, however, may possibly be, "keep oxen at a distance, for fear of injuring the young shoots." "_Springe_ or ympe that commeth out of the rote."--Huloet's Abcedarium, 1552. "Keep from biting, treading underfoot, or damage of beasts ... whereby mischief may be done to the _Springs_, during the time limited by the statute for such kind of wood."--Brumby Lease, 1716, in Peacock's Glossary, E. Dial. Soc.

[E288] "Meet with a bootie," etc., that is, as we say, find something which was never lost.

[E289] Wanteth = is without, does not keep.

[E290] "Waine her to mee." Perhaps = waggon, that is, "drive, carry her to me," but it is a forced expression.

[E291] "Such maister such man." Another form of the proverb is, "Trim, Tram; like master, like man." "Tel maître, tel valet" (Fr.).

[E292] Compare with Tusser's description of the faults to be avoided in the making of cheese the following extracts on the same subject:

"Now what cheese is well made or otherwise may partly be perceiued by this old Latine verse:

Non nix, non Argos, Methusalem, Magdaleneve, Esaus, non Lazarus, caseus ille bonus.

That is to say, Cheese should not be white as Snowe is, nor full of eyes as Argos was, nor old as Methusalem was, nor full of whey or weeping as Marie Magdalen was, nor rough as Esau was, nor full of spots as Lazarus. Master Tusser in his Booke of husbandrie addeth other properties also of Cheese well made, which who so listeth may read. Of this sort for the most part is that which is made about Banbury in Oxfordshire: for of all cheese (in my judgement) it is the best, though some preferre Cheshire Cheese made about Nantwich: and other also commend the Cheese of other countries: But Banbury Cheese shall goe for my money: for therein (if it be of the best sort) you shall neither tast the renet nor salt, which be two speciall properties of good Cheese. Now who so is desirous to eate Cheese, must eate it after other meat, and in little quantitie. A pennyweight, according to the old saying, is enough."--Cogan's Haven of Health, ed. 1612, pp. 158-9.

Andrew Boorde, in his Dyetary already referred to, p. 266, mentions 5 kinds of cheese, namely: "grene chese, softe chese, harde chese and spermyse. Besyde these iiij natures of chese, there is a chese called a rewene chese, the whiche, yf it be well orderyd, doth passe all other cheses, none excesse taken." ... "Chese that is good oughte not be to harde nor to softe, but betwyxt both; it shuld not be towgh nor brultell; it ought not to be swete, nor tarte, nor to salt, nor to fresshe; it must be of good savour and taledge, nor full of iyes, nor mytes, nor magottes."

"Yf a chees is drie, Hit is a vyce, and so is many an eye Yf it see with, that cometh yf sounyng brendde, Or moche of salt, or lite of presse, it shende." ---Palladius on Husbondrie, E. E. Text Soc. ed. Lodge, p. 154.

With these extracts showing the essentials of good cheese, compare the following description of Suffolk Cheese, locally termed _Bang and Thump_, and made of milk several times skimmed:

"Unrivall'd stands thy county cheese, O Giles! Whose very name alone engenders smiles; Whose fame abroad by every tongue is spoke, The well-known butt of many a flinty joke, Its name derision and reproach pursue, And strangers tell of 'three times skimm'd skye blue.'" --Blomfield.

Its toughness has given rise to a number of local illustrations. In one the cheese exclaims:

"Those that made me were uncivil, For they made me harder than the devil; Knives won't cut me; fire won't sweat me; Dogs bark at me, but can't eat me."

"Hunger will break through stone walls, or anything except Suffolk cheese," is a proverb from Ray. Mowbray says "it is only fit to be cut up for gate latches, a use to which it is often applied." Other writers represent it as most suitable for making wheels for wheelbarrows.

[E293] "Argusses eies." The mythical Argus, surnamed Panoptes (the All-seer), had a hundred eyes; he was placed by Juno to guard Io, and at his death his eyes were transplanted to the peacock's tail.

[E294] To fleet or skim the cream is a verb still in use in East Anglia, and the utensil used for the purpose is termed a _fleeting-dish_. "I flete mylke, take away the creame that lyeth above it whan it hath rested."--Palsgr. "_Esburrer_, to fleet the creame potte; _laict esburré_, fleeted milk; _maigne_, fleeted milke or whaye."--Hollyband's Treasurie. "Ye _floted_ too nie" = you skimmed off too much of the cream.

[E295] If cheeses are full of eyes, it is a proof that the curd was not properly worked.

[E296] Hoven cheese is occasioned by negligence in breaking the curd; and therefore Cisley deserves to be driven to _creeks_, or holes and corners, for her idleness and inattention.--M.

[E297] Tough or leathery cheese may arise from its being set too hot, or not worked up, and the curd broken in proper time.--M.

[E298] Various causes may bring on corruption in cheese, such as the use of beastings, or milk immediately after calving, moisture, bruises and such like.

[E299] Hairs in cheese can only arise from inexcusable carelessness, or from Cisley's combing and decking her hair in the dairy.

[E300] Magget the py = the magpie, a pun on the word magget, in its two meanings of 1. a maggot, 2. a magpie, commonly called in Prov. Eng. _magot-pie, maggoty-pie_, from _mag, maggot = Meg, Maggie = Margery, Margaret_, and _pie_; Fr. _margot_, old dimin. of _Marguerite_, and common name of the magpie. The line, therefore, reads, "If maggots be crawling in the cheese, fetch magget the py." "_Pie_, meggatapie."--Cotgrave. Cf. Shakspere, Macbeth, Act iii. sc. 4, 125.

[E301] "Cisley, in running after the Bishop in passing, as was the practice in former times, in order to obtain his blessing, might accidentally leave her milk on the fire; and on her return, finding it burnt to the pan, might probably curse the prelate for her mishap, which conduct deserved correction, or a left-handed blessing from her mistress." So Dr. Mavor. Mr. Skeat remarks in reference to it: "That stupid story makes me cross; it is such an evident invention, and no soul has ever adduced the faintest proof of any such practice. The allusion is far less circuitous, viz. to the bishops who burnt people for heresy. That they did so is too notorious." The following extract appears strongly to bear out Mr. Skeat's view: "When a thynge speadeth not well we borowe speach and say '_the byshope hath blessed it_,' because that nothynge speadeth well that they medyll withall. If the podech be burned to, or the meate over rosted, we say '_the byshope has put his fote in the potte_,' or '_the byshope hath played the coke_,' because the byshopes burn who they lust, and whosoever displeaseth them."--Quotation from Tyndale's Obedyence of a Chrystene Man, 1528, p. 166, in Brockett, North Country Glossary, 1825, page 16. If we consider that these verses were written while the memory of the numbers who had suffered death at the stake for their religion was still fresh in the minds of the people, Mr. Skeat's view, borne out, as it is, by the foregoing extract, certainly appears the more reasonable and probable.

[E302] "Here reede": we may take this as meaning either "here read," or, adopting the older meaning of the word _reede_ (A.S. _ræd_ = advice, warning), as "hear my advice or warning."

[E303] "Take nothing to halues," that is, do nothing by halves.

[E304] "Tell fagot and billet," etc.; count your faggots and fire-wood, to prevent the boys and girls from pilfering it, so that when you come to fetch it you find "a quarter be gone." So also in the next stanza, watch the coal men filling the sacks, lest you should get short weight; and, when the coals are delivered, see the sacks opened, for fear the coal dealer and the carman should be 'two in a pack,' or 'harp on one string,' and between them you be defrauded.

[E305] "Philip and Jacob," that is, St. Philip and St. James' Day, May 1st. "When flocks were more uniform as to breed and management, lambs used to be separated from their dams on this day, for the purpose of tithing as well as milking."--M. "Requiem æternam," a portion of the Roman Catholic Service for the dead, hence "least _requiem æternam_ in winter they sing" = lest they die in the winter from not having been allowed to become sufficiently strong before being taken from their dams, and thus being incapable of enduring the severity of the weather.

[E306] "Barberlie handled," that is, "_secundum artem_, as a barber surgeon would do, by first cutting away extraneous substances, and then rubbing the part with dust."--M. Tusser Redivivus calls the lumps of dirt and worms which gather on the wool under a sheep's tail "_treddles_."

[E307] During the summer season, hollow and decayed pollards in particular, or woodsere, cannot be lopped without danger. Ivy, however, is to be removed; or it will, by the closeness of its embraces, prevent trees from _addling_, that is, growing or increasing in size.--M.

[E308] The Thrasher serves the Cattle with fresh Straw, the Hogs with Risk (offal, corn and weeds, and short knotty straw).--T.R. (May).

[E309] "A weede hooke, a crotch, and a gloue." Fitzherbert (Boke of Husbandry, 1586) enumerates, as "ye chyef instrumentes for weeding, a paier of tonges made of wood and in the farther end it is nicked to hold ye wede faster ... yf it be drye wether then must ye have a _wedying hoke_ with a socket set upon a lytle staffe a yard longe. And this hoke wolde be wel steled and grounde sharpe bothe behynde and before. And in his other hande he hath a _forked stycke_ a yarde long." The whole account of weeding in the "Boke" is very quaint. In former days thistles were gathered from the corn for the feeding of cattle, and the left hand of the reaper was guarded with a leathern glove: there is an entry among the expenses of the Priory of Holy Island for 1344-5 of "gloves for 14 servants when they gathered the tythe corn, 2_s._ 8_d._" See Johnston's "Botany of the Eastern Borders."--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E310] "The May weed doth burn" (_Anthemis cotula_, L.). The juice of this plant is possessed of an acrid blistering property which renders it extremely noxious to reapers. The irritating effects are produced in a still greater degree by the seed when ripe, and are mostly manifested in the lower extremities, from the close adhesion of the seeds by their rough surface, aided by the friction of the shoe, causing first abrasion, then active inflammation, and even ulceration. Dr. Bromfield (Flora Vectensis) says: "I have been repeatedly assured by the peasantry that they have known men incapacitated for work, and laid up, from the injurious operation of this noxious weed, for days together in harvest time."

[E311] "The thistle doth fret." Fitzherbert (Boke of Husbandry) says: "The thystell is an yll wede rough and sharpe to handle, and _freateth away the cornes_ nyghe it."

[E312] "The fitches pul downward." The hairy tare, _Vicia hirsuta_, L. Fitch = vetch.

[E313] "The cockle," _Lychnis Githago_, L. "_Cockole_ hath a large smal [_sic_] leafe and wyll beare v or vi floures purple colloure as brode as a grote, and the sede is rounde and blacke."--Fitzherbert, Boke of Husbandry.

[E314] "Boddle." The corn marigold, _Chrysanthemum segetum_, L., more usually called boodle or buddle in the East of England; in Kent, yellow bottle; in Scotland, gools, gules, or goolds, in allusion to the colour of the flower. This is a very noxious weed, the non-extirpation of which in Scotland was formerly a punishable offence: certain persons (hence called "gool-riders") were appointed to ride through the fields on a certain day, and impose a fine of three shillings and fourpence, or a wether sheep, for every stalk of the plant found growing in the corn. The custom is of great antiquity, and exists in a modified form at the present day, the fine being reduced to a penny. Linnæus states that a similar law exists in Denmark.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E315] Buckwheat, Dutch _boekweit_, Ger. _buckwaitzen_, from the resemblance of its triangular seeds to beech-nuts, a name adopted with its culture from the Dutch.--It is a tender plant, and must be sown late.--M. It is also very proper to sow it (bucke) before wheat, the ground is made clean and fine by it, and it sufficing itself with a Froth leaves the solid Strength for the Wheat.--T.R. (May). _Polygonum Fagopyrum_, Linn.