Chapter II: Later Manuscript Herbals and the Early Printed Herbals (1)

"Spryngynge tyme is the time of gladnesse and of love; for
in Sprynging time all thynge semeth gladde; for the erthe
wexeth grene, trees burgynne [burgeon] and sprede, medowes
bring forth flowers, heven shyneth, the see resteth and is
quyete, foules synge and make theyr nestes, and al thynge
that semed deed in wynter and widdered, ben renewed, in
Spryngyng time."--BARTHOLOMÆUS ANGLICUS, _circ._ 1260.

Between the Anglo-Saxon herbals and the early printed herbals there is a great gulf. After the Norman Conquest the old Anglo-Saxon lore naturally fell into disrepute, although the Normans were inferior to the Saxons in their knowledge of herbs. The learned books of the conquerors were written exclusively in Latin, and it is sad to think of the number of beautiful Saxon books which must have been destroyed, for when the Saxons were turned out of their own monasteries the Normans who supplanted them probably regarded books written in a language they did not understand as mere rubbish. Much of the old Saxon herb lore is to be found in the leech books of the Middle Ages, but, with one notable exception, no important original treatise on herbs by an English writer has come down to us from that period. The vast majority of the herbal MSS. are merely transcriptions of Macer's herbal, a mediæval Latin poem on the virtues of seventy-seven plants, which is believed to have been written in the tenth century. The popularity of this poem is shown by the number of MSS. still extant. It was translated into English as early as the twelfth century with the addition of "A fewe herbes wyche Macer tretyth not."[38] In 1373 it was translated by John Lelamoure, a schoolmaster of Hertford. On folio 55 of the MS. of this translation is the inscription, "God gracious of grauntis havythe yyeue and ygrauted vertuys in woodys stonys and herbes of the whiche erbis Macer the philosofure made a boke in Latyne the whiche boke Johannes Lelamoure scolemaistre of Herforde est, they he unworthy was in the yere of oure Lorde a. m. ccc. lxxiij tournyd in to Ynglis." Macer's herbal is also the basis of a treatise in rhyme of which there are several copies in England and one in the Royal Library at Stockholm. This treatise, which deals with twenty-four herbs, begins thus quaintly--

"Of erbs xxiiij I woll you tell by and by
Als I fond wryten in a boke at I in boroyng toke
Of a gret ladys preste of gret name she barest."

The poem begins with a description of betony, powerful against "wykked sperytis," and then treats, amongst other herbs, of the virtues of centaury, marigold, celandine, pimpernel, motherwort, vervain, periwinkle, rose, lily, henbane, agrimony, sage, rue, fennel and violet. It is pleasant to find the belief that only to look on marigolds will draw evil humours out of the head and strengthen the eyesight.

"Golde [marigold] is bitter in savour
Fayr and [gh]elw [yellow] is his flowur
Ye golde flour is good to sene
It makyth ye syth bryth and clene
Wyscely to lokyn on his flowris
Drawyth owt of ye heed wikked hirores [humours].
. . . . . . .
Loke wyscely on golde erly at morwe [morning]
Yat day fro feueres it schall ye borwe:
Ye odour of ye golde is good to smelle."

The instructions for the picking of this joyous flower are given at length. It must be taken only when the moon is in the sign of the Virgin, and not when Jupiter is in the ascendant, for then the herb loses its virtue. And the gatherer, who must be out of deadly sin, must say three Pater Nosters and three Aves. Amongst its many virtues we find that it gives the wearer a vision of anyone who has robbed him. The virtues of vervain also are many; it must be picked "at Spring of day" in "ye monyth of May." Periwinkle is given its beautiful old name "joy of the ground" ("men calle it ye Juy of Grownde") and the description runs thus:--

"Parwynke is an erbe grene of colour
In tyme of May he beryth blo flour,
His stalkys ain [are] so feynt [weak] and feye
Yet never more growyth he heye [high]."

Under sage we find the old proverb--"How can a man die who has sage in his garden?"

"Why of seknesse deyeth man
Whill sawge [sage] in gardeyn he may han."

A manuscript of exceptional interest is one describing the virtues of rosemary which was sent by the Countess of Hainault to her daughter Philippa, Queen of England, and apart from its intrinsic interest it is important from the fact that it is obviously the original of the very poetical discourse on rosemary in the first printed English herbal, commonly known as Banckes's herbal. Moreover, in this MS. there is recorded an old tradition which I have not found in any other herbal, but which is still current amongst old-fashioned country folk, namely, that rosemary "passeth not commonly in highte the highte of Criste whill he was man on Erthe," and that when the plant attains the age of thirty-three years it will increase in breadth but not in height. It is the oldest MS. in which we find many other beliefs about rosemary that still survive in England. There is a tradition that Queen Philippa's mother sent the first plants of rosemary to England, and in a copy of this MS. in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, the translator, "danyel bain," says that rosemary was unknown in England until the Countess of Hainault sent some to her daughter.

The only original treatise on herbs written by an Englishman during the Middle Ages was that by Bartholomæus Anglicus, and on the plant-lover there are probably few of the mediæval writers who exercise so potent a spell. Even in the thirteenth century, that age of great men, Bartholomew the Englishman ranked with thinkers such as Roger Bacon, Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus. He was accounted one of the greatest theologians of his day, and if his lectures on theology were as simple as his writings on herbs, it is easy to understand why they were thronged and why his writings were so eagerly studied, not only in his lifetime but for nearly three centuries afterwards. A child could understand his book on herbs, for, being great, he was simple. But although his work _De Proprietatibus Rerum_ (which contains nineteen books) was the source of common information on Natural History throughout the Middle Ages, and was one of the books hired out at a regulated price by the scholars of Paris, we know very little of the writer. He spent the greater part of his life in France and Saxony, but he was English born and was always known as Bartholomæus Anglicus.[39] We know that he studied in Paris and entered the French province of the Minorite Order, and later he became one of the most renowned professors of theology in Paris. In 1230 a letter was received from the general of the Friars Minor in the new province of Saxony asking the provincial of France to send Bartholomew and another Englishman to help in the work of that province, and the former subsequently went there. We do not know the exact date of _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, but it must have been written about the middle of the thirteenth century; for, though it cites Albertus Magnus, who was teaching in Paris in 1248, there is no mention of any of the later authorities, such as Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon and Vincent de Beauvais. It was certainly known in England as early as 1296, for there is a copy of that date at Oxford, and there still exist both in France and in England a considerable number of other manuscript copies, most of which date from the latter part of the thirteenth century and the early part of the fourteenth. The book was translated into English in 1398 by John de Trevisa,[40] chaplain to Lord Berkeley and vicar of Berkeley, and Bartholomew could scarcely have been more fortunate in his translator. At the end of his translation, Trevisa writes thus:--

"Endlesse grace blysse thankyng and praysyng unto our Lorde
God Omnipotent be gyuen, by whoos ayde and helpe this
translacon was endyd at Berkeleye the syxte daye of Feuerer
the yere of our Lorde MCCCLXXXXVIII the yere of y{e} reyne
of Kynge Rycharde the seconde after the Conqueste of
Englonde XXII. The yere of my lordes aege, syre Thomas,
Lorde of Berkeleye that made me to make this Translac[=o]n
XLVII."

Salimbene shows that the book was known in Italy in 1283, and there are two MS. copies in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, of which the earliest is dated 1297. Before Trevisa made his English translation, it had been translated into French by Jehan Corbichon, in 1372, for Charles V. of France.

The book was first printed at Basle about 1470, and the esteem in which it was held may be judged from the fact that it went through at least fourteen editions before 1500, and besides the English and French translations it was also translated into Spanish and Dutch. The English translation was first printed by Caxton's famous apprentice, Wynken de Worde.[41] The translator in a naïve little introductory poem says that, just as he had looked as a child to God to help him in his games, so now he prays Him to help him in this book.

"C[?]Rosse was made all of red .
In the begynning of my boke .
That is called, god me sped .
In the fyrste lesson that j toke .
Thenne I learned a and b .
And other letters by her names .
But alway God spede me .
Thought me nedefull in all games .
Yf I played in felde, other medes .
Stylle other wyth noyse .
I prayed help in all my dedes .
Of him that deyed upon the croys .
Now dyuerse playes in his name .
I shall lette passe forth and far .
And aventure to play so long game .
Also I shall spare .
Wodes, medes and feldes .
Place that I have played inne .
And in his name that all th[=i]g weldes .
This game j shall begynne. .
And praye helpe conseyle and rede .
To me that he wolde sende .
And this game rule and lede .
And brynge it to a good ende. ."

And in the preface Trevisa addresses his readers thus: "Merveyle not, ye witty and eloquent reders, that I th[=y]ne of wytte and voyde of cunning have translatid this boke from latin to our vulgayre language as a thynge profitable to me and peradventure to many other, whych understonde not latyn nor have not the knowledge of the proprytees of thynges."

The seventeenth book of _De Proprietatibus Rerum_ is on herbs and their uses, and it is full of allusions to the classical writers on herbs--Aristotle, Dioscorides and Galen--but the descriptions of the plants themselves are original and charming.

There is no record to show that Bartholomew the Englishman was a gardener, but we can hardly doubt that the man who described flowers with such loving care possessed a garden and worked in it. The _Herbarius zu Teutsch_ might have been written in a study, but there is fresh air and the beauty of the living flowers in Bartholomew's writings. Of the lily he says: "The Lely is an herbe wyth a whyte floure. And though the levys of the floure be whyte yet wythen shyneth the lyknesse of golde." Bartholomew may have known nothing of the modern science of botany, but he knew how to describe not only the lily, but also the atmosphere of the lily, in a word-picture of inimitable simplicity and beauty. One feels instinctively that only a child or a great man could have written those lines. And is there not something unforgettable in these few words on the unfolding of a rose--"And wh[=a]ne they [the petals] ben full growen they sprede theymselues ayenst the sonne rysynge"?

The chapter on the rose is longer than most, and is so delightful that I quote a considerable part of it. "The rose of gardens is planted and sette and tylthed as a vyne. And if it is forgendred and not shred and pared and not clensed of superfluyte: th[=e]ne it gooth out of kynde and chaungeth in to a wylde rose. And by oft chaunging and tylthing the wylde rose torneth and cha[=u]gith into a very rose. And the rose of ye garden and the wylde rose ben dyuers in multitude of floures: smelle and colour: and also in vertue. For the leves of the wylde rose ben fewe and brode and whytyssh: meddlyd wyth lytyll rednesse: and smellyth not so wel as the tame rose, nother is so vertuous in medicyn. The tame rose hath many leuys sette nye togyder: and ben all red, other almost white: w{t} wonder good smell.... And the more they ben brused and broken: the vertuo[=u]ser they ben and the better smellynge. And springeth out of a thorne that is harde and rough: netheles the Rose folowyth not the kynde of the thorne: But she arayeth her thorn wyth fayr colour and good smell. Whan ye rose begynneth to sprynge it is closed in a knoppe wyth grenes: and that knoppe is grene. And wha[=n]e it swellyth thenne spryngeth out harde leuys and sharpe.... And wh[=a]ne they ben full growen they sprede theymselues ayenst the sonne rysynge. And for they ben tendre and feble to holde togyder in the begynnynge; theyfore about those smale grene leuys ben nyghe the red and tendre leuys ... and ben sette all aboute. And in the mydill thereof is seen the sede small and yellow wyth full gode smell."

There follows a description, too long to quote here, of the growth of the rose hip, which ends with the remark: "But they ben not ful good to ete for roughnesse that is hyd wythin. And greuyth [grieveth] wythin his throte that ete thereof." ... "Among all floures of the worlde," he continues, "the floure of the rose is cheyf and beeryth ye pryse. And by cause of vertues and swete smelle and savour. For by fayrnesse they fede the syghte: and playseth the smelle by odour, the touche by softe handlynge. And wythstondeth and socouryth by vertue ayenst many syknesses and euylles." A delicious recipe is given for Rose honey. "Rose shreede smalle and sod in hony makyth that hony medycynable wyth gode smelle: And this comfortyeth and clenseth and defyeth gleymy humours."

Of the violet we read: "Violet is a lytyll herbe in substaunce and is better fresshe and newe than whan it is olde. And the floure thereof smellyth moost.... And the more vertuous the floure thereof is, ye more it bendyth the heed thereof do[=u]warde. Also floures of spryngynge tyme spryngeth fyrste and sheweth somer. The lytylnes thereof in substaunce is nobly rewarded in gretnesse of sauour and of vertue."

Bartholomew's descriptions of flowers are usually brief, and there is a clarity and vividness about them which give them a charm peculiarly their own. How fresh and English, for instance, is his chapter on the apple. I have never before seen the taste of an apple described as "merry," but how true the description is! "Malus the Appyll tree is a tree yt bereth apples and is a grete tree in itself ... it is more short than other trees of the wood wyth knottes and rinelyd Rynde. And makyth shadowe wythe thycke bowes and braunches: and fayr with dyuers blossomes, and floures of swetnesse and lykynge: with goode fruyte and noble. And is gracious in syght and in taste and vertuous in medecyne ... some beryth sourysh fruyte and harde and some ryght soure and some ryght swete, with a good savoure and mery." The descriptions of celandine and broom are also characteristic. "Celidonia is an herbe w{t} yelowe floures, the frute smorcheth them that it towchyth. And hyghte Celidonia for it spryngeth, other blomyth, in the comynge of swalowes.... It hy[gh]t celidonia for it helpith swallowes birdes yf their eyen be hurte other (or) blynde." "Genesta hath that name of bytterness for it is full of bytter to mannes taste. And is a shrubbe that growyth in a place that is forsaken, stony and untylthed. Presence thereof is wytnesse that the grounde is bareyne and drye that it groweth in. And hath many braunches knotty and hard. Grene in wynter and yelowe floures in somer thyche [the which] wrapped with heuy smell and bitter sauour. And ben netheles moost of vertue." Bartholomew gives the old mandrake legend in full, though he adds, "it is so feynd of churles others of wytches," and he also writes of its use as an anæsthetic.[42] Further, he records two other beliefs about the mandrake which I have never found in any other English herbal--namely, that while uprooting it one must beware of contrary winds, and that one must go on digging for it until sunset. "They that dygge mandragora be besy to beware of contrary wyndes whyle they digge. And maken circles abowte with a swerder and abyde with the dyggynge unto the sonne goynge downe."

But apart from herbs and their uses, the book _De herbis_ is full of fleeting yet vigorous pictures of the homely everyday side of mediæval life. Bartholomew, being one of the greatest men of his century, writes of matters in which the simplest of us are interested. He tells us of the feeding of swine with acorns. Of the making and baking of bread (including the thrifty custom of mixing cooked beans with the flour "to make the brede the more hevy"). Incidentally, and with all due respect, it may be remarked that he had no practical knowledge of this subject, his vivid description being obviously that of an interested spectator. There is an airy masculine vagueness about the conclusion of the whole matter of bread-making--"and at last after many travailes, man's lyfe is fedde and sustained therewith." He tells us of the use of laurel leaves to heal bee and wasp stings and to keep books and clothes from "moths and other worms," of the making of "fayre images" and of boxes wherein to keep "spycery" from the wood of the box-tree. Of the making of trestle tables "areared and set upon feet," of playing boards "that men playe on at the dyes [dice] and other gamys. And this maner of table is double and arrayd wyth dyerse colours." Of the making of writing tables, of wood used for flooring that "set in solar floors serue all men and bestys y{t} ben therein, and ben treden of alle men and beestys that come therein," and so strong that "they bende not nor croke [crack] whan they ben pressyd w{t} heuy thynges layd on them." And also of boards used for ships, bridges, hulks and coffers, and "in shypbreche [shipwreck] men fle to bordes and ben ofte sauyd in peryll." Of the building of houses with roofs of "trees stretchyd from the walles up to the toppe of ye house," with rafters "stronge and square and hewen playne," and of "the covering of strawe and thetche [thatch]." Of the making of linen from the soaking of the flax in water till it is dried and turned in the sun and then bound in "praty bundels" and "afterward knockyd, beten and brayd and carflyd, rodded and gnodded; ribbyd and heklyd and at the laste sponne," of the bleaching, and finally of its many uses for making clothing, and for sails, and fish nets, and thread, and ropes, and strings ("for bows"), and measuring lines, and sheets ("to reste in"), and sackes, and bagges, and purses ("to put and to kepe thynges in"). Of the making of tow "uneven and full of knobs," used for stuffing into the cracks in ships, and "for bonds and byndynges and matches for candelles, for it is full drye and takyth sone fyre and brenneth." "And so," he concludes somewhat breathlessly, "none herbe is so nedefull to so many dyurrse uses to mankynde as is the flexe." Of the vineyard "closyd about wyth walles and wyth hegges, with a wayte [watch] set in an hyghe place to kepe the vynyerde that the fruyte be not dystroyed." Of the desolation of the vineyard in winter, "but in harueste tyme many comyth and haunteth the vynyerde." Of the delicious smell of a vineyard. Of the damage done by foxes and swine and "tame hounds." "A few hounds," Bartholomew tells us, "wasten and dystroye moo grapes that cometh and eteth therof theuylly [thievishly]." "A vineyard," he concludes, "maye not be kepte nother sauyd but by his socour and helpe that all thynge hath and possesseth in his power and myghte. And kepyth and sauyth all lordly and myghtily." And is there any other writer who in so few words tells us of the woods in those days? Of the "beestis and foulis" therein as well as the herbs, of the woods in summer-time, of the hunting therein, of the robbers and the difficulty of finding one's way? Of the birds and the bees and the wild honey and the delicious coolness of the deep shade in summer, and the "wery wayfarynge trauelynge men"? And the final brief suggestion of the time when forests were veritable boundaries? I believe also that this is the only book in which we are told of the interesting old custom of tying knots to the trees "in token and marke of ye highe waye," and of robbers deliberately removing them. The picture is so perfect that I give it in full:--

"Woods ben wide places wast and desolate y{t} many trees
growe in w{t}oute fruyte and also few hauyinge fruyte. And
those trees whyche ben bareyne and beereth noo manere
fruyte alwaye ben generally more and hygher tha[=n]e y{t}
wyth fruyte, fewe out taken as Oke and Beche. In thyse wodes
ben ofte wylde beestes and foulis. Therein growyth herbes,
grasse, lees and pasture, and namely medycynall herbes in
wodes fo[=u]de. In somer wodes ben bewtyed [beautied] wyth
bowes and braunches, w{t} herbes and grasse. In wode is
place of disceyte [deceit] and of huntynge. For therin wylde
beest ben hunted: and watches and disceytes [deceits] ben
ordenyd and lette of houndes and of hunters. There is place
of hidynge and of lurkyng. For ofte in wodes theuys ben hyd,
and oft in their awaytes and disceytes passyng men cometh
and ben spoylled and robbed and ofte slayne. And soo for
many and dyuerse wayes and uncerten strange men ofte erre
and goo out of the waye. And take uncerten waye and the waye
that is unknowen before the waye that is knowen and come oft
to the place these theues lye in awayte and not wythout
peryll. Therefore ben ofte knottes made on trees and in
busshes in bowes and in braunches of trees; in token and
marke of ye highe waye; to shewe the certen and sure waye to
wayefareynge men. But oft theuys in tornynge and metyng of
wayes chaunge suche knottes and signes and begyle many men
and brynge them out of the ryght waye by false tokens and
sygnes. Byrdes, foules and bein [bees] fleeth to wode,
byrdes to make nestes and bein [bees] to gadre hony. Byrdes
to kepe themself from foulers and bein [bees] to hyde
themself to make honycombes preuely in holowe trees and
stockes. Also wodes for thyknesse of trees ben colde with
shadowe. And in hete of the sonne wery wayfarynge and
trauelynge men haue lykynge to have reste and to hele
themself in the shadow. Many wodes ben betwyne dyuers
co[=u]trees and londes: and departyth theym asondre. And by
weuynge and castyng togyder of trees often men kepeth and
defendyth themself from enymies."[43]

Bartholomew's book on herbs ends thus: "And here we shall fynysshe and ende in treatyng of the XVII boke whyche hath treated as ye may openly knowe of suche thynges as the Maker of all thyng hath ordered and brought forth by his myghty power to embelyssh and araye the erthe wyth and most specyally for ye fode of man and beast."

At the end of the book is the poem which has caused so much controversy amongst bibliographers. In this Wynken de Worde definitely states that Caxton had a share in the first printing of this book at Cologne:--

"And also of your charyte call to remembraunce
The soule of William Caxton first pr[=y]ter of this boke.
In laten tonge at Coleyn hyself to auauce
That every well disposed man may therein loke."

In spite of this, modern bibliographers are of opinion that Caxton could not have played even a subordinate part in the printing of this book at Cologne.

De Worde also refers to the maker of the paper[44]:--

"... John Tate the yonger ...
Which late hathe in England doo make this paper thynne
That now in our Englysh this boke is prynted Inne."

There is charm as well as pathos in the verses on the reproduction of manuscripts in book form, showing us vividly what the recent discovery of the art of printing meant to the scholars of that day. The simile of Ph[oe]bus "repairing" the moon is very apt.

"For yf one thyng myght laste a M yere
Full sone comyth aege that frettyth all away;
But like as Phebus wyth his bemes clere
The mone repeyreth as bryght as ony day
Whan she is wasted ryght; so may we say
Thise bokes old and blynde whan we renewe
By goodly pryntyng they ben bryght of hewe."

The last verse of the poem is as follows:--

"Nowe gloryous god that regnest one in thre
And thre in one graunte vertu myght and grace
Unto the prynter of this werke that he
May be rewarded in thy heuenly place
And whan the worlde shall come before thy face
There to receue accordyng to desert
Of grace and mercy make hym then expert."

The treatise on herbs formed, as we have seen, only a part of Bartholomew's _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, and, to speak strictly, the first printed English herbal was the small quarto volume published by Richard Banckes in 1525. It was the beginning of a series of small books[45] chiefly in black letter. All of them, though issued from different presses, have nearly the same title, and they vary only slightly from the original _Banckes's Herbal_. The title of this Herbal is--

"Here begynneth a new mater / the whiche sheweth and |
treateth of ye vertues & proprytes of her- | bes / the
whiche is called | an Herball ['.'] | ¶ Cum gratia &
priuilegio | a rege indulto |

"(_Colophon_) ¶ Imprynted by me Rycharde Banckes / dwellynge
in | L[=o]d[=o] / a lytel fro ye Stockes in ye Pultry / ye
XXV day of | Marche. The yere of our Lorde MCCCCC. & XXV."

We do not know who the author of this book was, and it has been suggested that it is based on some mediæval English manuscript now lost. Certainly when one reads this anonymous work known as _Banckes's Herbal_ one is struck not only by its superiority to the later and more famous _Grete Herball_, but also by its greater charm. It gives the impression of being a compilation from various sources, the author having made his own selection from what pleased him most in the older English manuscript herbals. It seems to have been a labour of love, whereas the _Grete Herball_ is merely a translation. It is almost certain that the writer made use of one of the numerous manuscript versions of Macer's Herbal, which in parts _Banckes's Herbal_ resembles very closely, and the chapter on rosemary shows that he had access to one of the copies of the manuscript on the virtues of rosemary which was sent by the Countess of Hainault to Queen Philippa. He does not give the beautiful old tradition preserved in that manuscript,[46] but he ascribes wonderful virtues to this herb, with the same loving enthusiasm and almost in the same words. Of rosemary in _Banckes's Herbal_ we read:--

"Take the flowers thereof and make powder thereof and binde
it to thy right arme in a linnen cloath and it shale make
thee light and merrie.

"Take the flowers and put them in thy chest among thy
clothes or among thy Bookes and Mothes shall not destroy
them.

"Boyle the leaves in white wine and washe thy face therewith
and thy browes and thou shalt have a faire face.

"Also put the leaves under thy bedde and thou shalt be
delivered of all evill dreames.

"Take the leaves and put them into wine and it shall keep
the wine from all sourness and evill savours and if thou
wilt sell thy wine thou shalt have goode speede.

"Also if thou be feeble boyle the leaves in cleane water and
washe thyself and thou shalt wax shiny.

"Also if thou have lost appetite of eating boyle well these
leaves in cleane water and when the water is colde put
thereunto as much of white wine and then make sops, eat them
thereof wel and thou shalt restore thy appetite againe.

"If thy legges be blowen with gowte boyle the leaves in
water and binde them in a linnen cloath and winde it about
thy legges and it shall do thee much good.

"If thou have a cough drink the water of the leaves boyld in
white wine and ye shall be whole.

"Take the Timber thereof and burn it to coales and make
powder thereof and rubbe thy teeth thereof and it shall keep
thy teeth from all evils. Smell it oft and it shall keep
thee youngly.

"Also if a man have lost his smellyng of the ayre that he
may not draw his breath make a fire of the wood and bake his
bread therewith, eate it and it shall keepe him well.

"Make thee a box of the wood of rosemary and smell to it and
it shall preserve thy youth."

That _Banckes's Herbal_ achieved immediate popularity is attested by the fact that the following year another edition of it was issued, and during the next thirty years various London printers issued the same book under different titles.[47] Robert Wyer[48] ascribed the authorship of those he issued to Macer, and in the edition of 1530 he added, after "Macer's Herbal," "Practysed by Dr. Lynacro." Whether this statement is true it is impossible to discover, but we know that the great doctor died some years before Wyer set up as a printer, and his name does not appear in any of the subsequent editions of the herbal issued by other printers. In Wyer's edition there are some good initial letters very similar to those used by Wynkyn de Worde.

The most interesting edition of the herbal is that printed by William Copland, in which first appear the additional chapters on "The virtues of waters stylled," "The tyme of gathering of sedes" and "A general rule of all maner of herbes." He issued two editions bearing the same title and differing only in the woodcuts and the colophon. The title is "A boke of the | propreties of Herbes called an her- | ball, whereunto is added the tyme y{e} | herbes, floures and Sedes shold | be gathered to be kept the whole, ye- | re, with the vertue of ye Herbes wh[=e] | they are stylled. Al- | so a generall rule of all ma- | ner of Herbes drawen | out of an auncyent | booke of Phisyck | by W. C." The woodcut in the first edition is three "Tudor" roses in a double circle with a crown over one of the roses and across the riband "K[=y]ge of floures." In the second edition the woodcut is a quaint little representation of a lady seated in a garden. One man standing behind her is holding her and another is walking towards her. The three figures are near a wall, on the other side of which several men are apparently conversing. Who W. C. was is uncertain. In the _Dictionary of National Biography_ William Copland is said to be both the author and the printer of the book, but in many catalogues (notably in that of the British Museum) Walter Cary figures as the author. In a lengthy account of the Carys in _Notes and Queries_ (March 29, 1913) Mr. A. L. Humphreys disposes conclusively of the supposition that W. C. can stand for Walter Cary.

"_A Boke of the Properties of Herbes_ bears on the
title-page the initials W. C., which may stand either for
Copland or Cary. This was one of several editions of
_Banckes's Herbal_, then very popular, and although it may
have been edited or promoted in some way by a Walter Cary,
it could not have been by the one who wrote _The Hammer for
the Stone_. The 'Herball' was issued somewhere about 1550
and various editions of it exist, but all these appeared
when the Walter Cary we are considering was a child. There
is, however, a connection between the Carys and herbals,
because it is well known that Henry Lyte (1529-1607) of
Lytes Cary was the famous translator of Dodoens's _Herball_
(1578), and he had a herbal garden at Lytes Cary."

Ames in his _Typographical Antiquities_ describes the two editions, which are identical, as though they were two different books, and ascribes one to Walter Cary and the other to William Copland. We have only Ames's authority for the supposition that Copland was the compiler as well as the printer. The herbal in question is merely another edition of _Banckes's Herbal_, but it is quite possible that the three additional chapters at the end were "drawen out of an auncyent booke of Physick" by Copland.[49]

Two editions of _Banckes's Herbal_ are ascribed, on account of the wording of the title, to Antony Askham, and the title is so attractive that it is a disappointment to find that the astrological additions "declaryng what herbes hath influence of certain sterres and constellations," etc., do not appear in any known copy of the herbal. This astrological lore from the famous man who combined the professions of priest, physician and astrologer in the reign of Edward VI. would be of remarkable interest. But it has been pointed out by Mr. H. M. Barlow[50] that, if the bibliographers who have attributed the work to Askham had examined the title of the work with greater care, they would have observed that the phrase "by Anthonye Askham" refers not to the substance of the book itself (which is merely another edition of _Banckes's Herbal_) but to the "Almanacke" from which the additions were intended to be taken, though apparently they were never printed. The title of "Askham's" Herbal is--

"A lytel | herball of the | properties of her- | bes newely
amended and corrected, | with certayne addicions at the ende
| of the boke, declarying what herbes | hath influence of
certaine Sterres | and constellations, whereby may be |
chosen the beast and most luckye | tymes and dayes of their
mini- | stracion, accordyinge to the | Moone being in the
sig- | nes of heauen, the | which is dayly | appoynted | in
the | Almanacke; made and gathered | in the yere of our
Lorde god | M.D.L. the XII. day of Fe- | bruary by Anthonye
| Askham Phi- | sycyon.

"(_Colophon._) Imprynted at | London in Flete- | strete at
the signe of the George | next to Saynte Dunstones | Churche
by Wylly- | am Powell. | In the yeare of oure Lorde | M.D.L.
the twelfe day of Marche."

There are some charming prescriptions to be found in "Askham's" Herbal. Under "rose," for instance, we have recipes for "melroset," "sugar roset," "syrope of Rooses," "oyle of roses" and "rose water."

"Melrosette is made thus. Take faire purified honye and new
read rooses, the whyte endes of them clypped awaye, th[=a]
chop theym smal and put th[=e] into the Hony and boyl th[=e]
menely together; to know whan it is boyled ynoughe, ye shal
know it by the swete odour and the colour read. Fyve yeares
he may be kept in his vertue; by the Roses he hath vertue of
comfortinge and by the hony he hath vertu of clensinge.

"Syrope of Rooses is made thus. Some do take roses dyght as
it is sayd and boyle them in water and in the water strayned
thei put suger and make a sirope thereof; and some do make
it better, for they put roses in a vessell, hauing a
strayght mouthe, and they put to the roses hote water and
thei let it stande a day and a night and of that water,
putting to it suger, thei do make sirope, and some doe put
more of Roses in the forsaid vessel and more of hote water,
and let it stande as is beforesaide, and so they make a read
water and make the rose syrope. And some do st[=a]pe new
Roses and then strayne out the joyce of it and suger
therwyth, they make sirope: and this is the best making of
sirope. In Wynter and in Somer it maye be geuen competently
to feble sicke mel[=a]coly and colorike people.

"Sugar Roset is made thus--Take newe gathered roses and
st[=a]pe them righte smal with sugar, th[=a] put in a glasse
XXX. dayes, let it stande in ye sunne and stirre it wel, and
medle it well together so it may be kept three yeares in his
vertue. The qu[=a]titie of sugar and roses should be thus.
In IIII. pound of sugar a pounde of roses.

"Oyle of roses is made thus. Some boyle roses in oyle and
kepe it, some do fyll a glasse with roses and oyle and they
boyle it in a caudron full of water and this oyle is good.
Some stampe fresh roses with oyle and they put it in a
vessel of glasse and set it in the s[=u]ne IIII. dais and
this oyle is good.

"Rose water. Some do put rose water in a glass and they put
roses with their dew therto and they make it to boile in
water th[=a] thei set it in the sune tyll it be readde and
this water is beste."

Under the same flower we find this fragrant example of the widespread mediæval belief in the efficacy of good smells:--

"Also drye roses put to ye nose to smell do c[=o]forte the
braine and the harte and quencheth sprite."

The herbalists were never weary of teaching the value of sweet scents.[51] "If odours may worke satisfaction," wrote Gerard in his _Herball_, "they are so soveraigne in plants and so comfortable that no confection of the apothecaries can equall their excellent vertue." One of the most delicious "scent" prescriptions in Askham is to be found under Violet--"For th[=e] that may not slepe for sickness seeth this herb in water and at euen let him soke well hys feete in the water to the ancles, wh[=a] he goeth to bed, bind of this herbe to his temples and he shall slepe wel by the grace of God."

The most curious recipe is that under "woodbinde." "Go to the roote of woodbinde and make a hole in the middes of the roote, than cover it well againe y{t} no ayre go out nor that no rayne go in, no water, nor earth nor the sune come not to much to it, let it stande so a night and a day, th[=a] after that go to it and thou shalt fynde therein a certayne lycoure. Take out that lycoure with a spone and put it into a clean glas and do so every day as long as thou fyndest ought in the hole, and this must be done in the moneth of April or Maye, than anoynt the sore therwith against the fyre, th[=a] wete a lynnen clothe in the same lycoure and lappe it about the sore and it shal be hole in shorte space on warrantyse by the Grace of God."

Unlike the later _Grete Herball_, Askham gives some descriptions of the herbs themselves, notably in the case of alleluia (wood-sorrel), water crowfoot, and asterion.

"This herbe alleluia m[=e] call it Wodsour or Stubwort, this
herbe hath thre leaves ye which be ro[=u]d a litel departed
aboue and it hath a whyte flour, but it hath no l[=o]ge
stalkes and it is Woodsoure and it is like thre leued
grasse. The vertue of this herbe is thus, if it be rosted in
the ashes in red docke leaves or in red wort leaves it
fretteth awai dead flesh of a wounde. This herbe groweth
much in woodes."

Water crowfoot: "This herb that men call water crowfoot hath
yelow floures, as hath crowfoot and of the same shap, but
the leves are more departed as it were Rammes fete, and it
hath a long stalke and out of that one stalke groweth many
stalkes smal by ye sides. This herb groweth in watery
places."

"Asterion or Lunary groweth among stoones and in high
places, this herb shyneth by night and he bringeth forth
purple floures hole and rounde as a knockebell or else lyke
to foxgloves, the leves of this herbe be rounde and blew and
they have the mark of the Moone in the myddes as it were
thre leved grasse, but the leaves therof be more and they be
round as a peny. And the stalk of this herb is red and thyse
herb semeth as it were musk and the joyce therof is yelow
and this groweth in the new Moone without leve and euery day
spryngeth a newe leaue to the ende of fyftene dayes and
after fyftene dayes it looseth euery day a leaue as the
Moone waneth and it springeth and waneth as doth the Moone
and where that it groweth there groweth great quantitie.

"The vertue of this herbe is thus--thei that eat of the
beris or of the herbe in waning of the moone, wh[=a] he is
in signo virginis if he have the falling euell he shal be
hole thereof or if he beare thys about his neck he shal be
holpen without doute. And it hath many more vertues than I
can tell at this tyme."

One of the unidentified herbs is called "sene," and we are given the somewhat vague geographical information, "It groweth in the other syde the sea and moste aboute Babilon."

* * * * *

Another small book printed by William Copland must be mentioned, for, although it is not a herbal, it contains a great deal of curious herb lore not to be found elsewhere. This is _The boke of secretes of Albartus Magnus of the vertues of Herbes, Stones, and certaine beastes_. Who the author was is unknown, but he was certainly not Albert of Bollstadt (1193-1280), Bishop of Ratisbon, the scholastic philosopher to whom it was ascribed, probably in order to increase its sale. There is one philosophical remark which is not unworthy of the famous Bishop: "Every man despiseth ye thyng whereof he knoweth nothynge and that hath done no pleasure to him." But for the most part it deals with the popular beliefs concerning the mystical properties of herbs, stones and animals.

Of celandine the writer tells us: "This hearbe springeth in the time in ye which the swallowes and also ye Eagles maketh theyr nestes. If any man shal have this herbe with ye harte of a Molle (mole) he shall overcome all his enemies.... And if the before named hearbe be put upon the headde of a sycke man if he should dye he shal syng anone with a loud voyce, if not he shall weep."

"Perwynke when it is beat[=e] unto pouder with wormes of ye earth wrapped aboute it and with an herbe called houslyke it induceth love between man and wyfe if it bee used in their meales ... if the sayde confection be put in the fyre it shall be turned anone unto blue coloure."

Of the herb which, he tells us, "the men of Chaldea called roybra," he says: "He that holdeth this herbe in hys h[=a]de with an herbe called Mylfoyle or yarowe or noseblede is sure from all feare and fantasye or vysion. And yf it be put with the juyce of houselyke and the bearers hands be anoynted with it and the residue be put in water if he entre in ye water where fyshes be they wil gather together to hys handes ... and if hys hande be draw[=e] forth they will leape agayne to theyre owne places where they were before."

Of hound's tongue: "If ye shall have the aforenamed herbe under thy formost toe al the dogges shall kepe silence and shall not have power to bark. And if thou shalt put the aforesayde thinge in the necke of any dogge so y{t} he maye not touche it with his mouthe he shalbe turned always round about lyke a turning whele untill he fall unto the grounde as dead and this hath bene proved in our tyme."

Of centaury: "If it be joyned with the bloude of a female lapwing or black plover and be put with oyle in a lampe, all they that compasse it aboute shal beleue themselves to be witches so that one shall beleve of an other that his head is in heaven and his fete in the earth. And if the aforesaid thynge be put in the fire whan the starres shine it shall appeare y{t} the sterres runne one agaynste another and fyght."

Of vervain: "This herbe (as witches say) gathered, the sunne beyng in the signe of the Ram, and put with grayne or corne of pyonie of one yeare olde healeth them y{t} be sicke of ye falling sykenes."

Of powder of roses: "If the aforesayde poulder be put in a lampe and after be kindled all men shall appeare blacke as the deuell. And if the aforesaid poulder be mixed with oyle of the olyue tree and with quycke brymstone and the house anointed wyth it, the Sunne shyning, it shall appeare all inflamed."

Of verbena: "Infants bearing it shalbe very apte to learne and louing learnynge and they shalbe glad and joyous."

It is the only book on the virtues of herbs in which I have found a recipe to revive drowning flies and bees! This is to be done by placing them in warm ashes of pennyroyal, and then "they shall recover their lyfe after a little tyme as by ye space of one houre." The book ends with a curious philosophical dissertation, "Of the mervels of the worlde," which is followed by a series of charms--to stop a cock crowing, to make men look as though they had no heads, to obtain rule over all birds, to keep flies away from a house, to write letters which can only be read at night, to make men look as though they had "the countenance of a dog," to make men seem as though they had three heads, to understand the language of birds, to make men seem like angels, and to put things in the fire without their being consumed.

* * * * *

Though lacking in the charm of the quaint and typically English _Banckes's Herbal_, the most famous of the early printed herbals was the _Grete Herball_ printed by Peter Treveris in 1526.[52]

"The grete herball | whiche geueth parfyt knowlege and
under- | standyng of all maner of herbes & there gracyous
vertues whiche god hath | ordeyned for our prosperous
welfare and helth, for they hele & cure all maner | of
dyseases and sekenesses that fall or mysfortune to all maner
of creatoures | of god created, practysed by many expert and
wyse maysters, as Auicenna and | other &c. Also it geueth
full parfyte understandynge of the booke lately pryn | ted
by me (Peter treveris) named the noble experiens of the
vertuous hand | warke of surgery."

(_Colophon._) "Imprentyd at London in South- | warke by me
peter Treueris, dwel- | lynge in the sygne of the wodows |
In the yere of our Lorde god M.D. | XXVI the XXVII day of
July."

According to the introduction it was compiled from the works of "many noble doctoures and experte maysters in medecines, as Auicenna, Pandecta, Constantinus, Wilhelmus, Platearius, Rabbi Moyses, Johannes Mesue, Haly, Albertus, Bartholomeus and more other." But with the exception of the preface the _Grete Herball_ is a translation of the well-known French herbal, _Le Grant Herbier_. Until about 1886 _Le Grant Herbier_ was supposed to be a translation of the _Herbarius zu Teutsch_, published at Mainz in 1485, or of the _Ortus Sanitatis_, printed also at Mainz in 1491.[53] The _Herbarius zu Teutsch_, which was probably compiled by a Frankfort physician, is a fine herbal beautifully illustrated, and the later _Ortus Sanitatis_ is by some authorities supposed to be a Latin translation of it. To judge from the preface to the German Herbarius it was a labour of love, undertaken by a man who apparently was possessed of ample wealth and leisure; for in his preface he tells us that he "caused this praiseworthy work to be begun by a Master learned in physic," and then, finding that as many of the herbs did not grow in his native land he could not draw them "with their true colours and form," he left the work unfinished and journeyed through many lands--Italy, Croatia, Albania, Dalmatia, Greece, Corfu, Candia, Rhodes, Cyprus, the Holy Land, Arabia, Babylonia and Egypt. He was accompanied by "a painter ready of wit and cunning and subtle of hand," and was thus able to have the herbs "truly drawn." The book he compiled on his return was long regarded as the original of the French herbal, _Le Grant Herbier_, but in 1866 Professor Giulio Camus found two fifteenth-century manuscripts in the Biblioteca Estense at Modena, one the Latin work commonly known from the opening words as _Circa Instans_, and the other a French translation of the same manuscript. It was always supposed by medical historians that the _Circa Instans_ was written by Matthaeus Platearius of Salerno in the twelfth century, but in Professor Camus's memoir, _L'Opéra Saleritana "Circa Instans" ed il testo primitivo del "Grand Herbier in Francoys" secundo duo codici del secolo XV conservati nella Regia Biblioteca Estense_, there are reproduced the French verses in which occurs the line, "Il a esté escript Millccc cinquante et huit," and Mr. H. M. Barlow[54] supports the deduction that _Circa Instans_ was not written by a Salernitan physician, but by a writer described in the verses as "Bartholomaeus minid' senis" in 1458. _Le Grant Herbier_, of which the English _Grete Herball_ is a translation, is a version of the French manuscript translation of _Circa Instans_, and therefore, as _Circa Instans_ is older than either the _Herbarius zu Teutsch_ or the Latin _Ortus Sanitatis_, it would seem that it is the real original of our _Grete Herball_. The preface to the _Grete Herball_, however, bears a strong resemblance to that of the German Herbarius, of which I quote a part from Dr. Arber's translation, made from the second (Augsburg) edition of 1485. They have been placed in parallel columns to show how closely the English preface follows that of the German Herbarius.

Preface to the _Herbarius zu Teutsch_.