Bugloss(Anchusa officinalis).

[12]La Mythologie des Plantes.[13]Family Herbal, 1810.[14]Herbal Simples, 1895.

[12]La Mythologie des Plantes.

[13]Family Herbal, 1810.

[14]Herbal Simples, 1895.

So did the maidens with their various flowersDeck up their windows, and make neat their bowers;Using such cunning as they did disposeThe ruddy piny (peony) with the lighter rose,The monkshood with the bugloss, and entwineThe white, the blue, the flesh-like columbineWith pinks, sweet williams.Britannia’s Pastorals, Book II.—W. Browne.

Britannia’s Pastorals, Book II.—W. Browne.

A spiny stem of bugloss flowers,Deep blue upon the outer towers.Winchester Castle.—N. Hopper.

A spiny stem of bugloss flowers,Deep blue upon the outer towers.

Winchester Castle.—N. Hopper.

Gerarde put Bugloss in one chapter, and Alkanet or Wild Bugloss in another, but nowadays Bugloss or Alkanet are names for the same plant,Anchusa officinalis. The drawings of his Bugloss resemble our Alkanet much more closely than they do any other plant called Bugloss, such asLycopsis arvensis, small Bugloss, orEchium vulgare, Viper’s Bugloss. The old herbalists, however, were most confusing on the subject. They apply the name Bugloss alternately toBorago officinalisand to different varieties ofAnchusa, and then speak ofBuglossumas if it were a different species! Evelyn describes it as being “in nature much like Borage but something more astringent,” and recommends the flowers of both as a conserve, for they are “greatly restorative.” As Hogg says thatAnchusa officinalishad formerly “a great reputation as a cordial,” Evelyn’s description applies to this plant; we may take it that this is the Bugloss he was thinking of. It is a good plant for a “wild garden,” but has a great tendency to spread. I have found it growing wild in Cornwall. Gerarde tells us that the roots ofAnchusa Tinctoriawere used to colour waters, syrups, and jellies, and then follows a line of scandal—“The gentlewomen of France doe paint their faces with these roots, as it is said.” Rouge is still made from Alkanet.

The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forthThe freckled Cowslip, Burnet and green Clover.Henry V., V. ii. 48.

The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forthThe freckled Cowslip, Burnet and green Clover.

Henry V., V. ii. 48.

Burnet has “two little leives like unto the winges of birdes, standing out as the bird setteth her winges out when she intendeth to flye.... YeDuchmen call it Hergottes berdlen, that is God’s little berde, because of the colour that it hath in the toppe.” This is Turner’s[15]information. He has a pleasant style, and tells us out-of-the-way facts or customs in a charming manner. Burnet is the first of the three plants that Sir Francis Bacon desired to be set in alleys, “to perfume the air most delightfully, being trodden upon and crushed.” The others were wild thyme and water-mint. It was a Salad-herb, and has (like Borage) a flavour of cucumber, but it has, most undeservedly, gone out of fashion. The taste is “somewhat warm, and the leaves should be cut young, or else they are apt to be tough. Culpepper and Parkinson advise that a few leaves should be added to a cup of claret wine because” it is “a helpe to make the heart merrie.” Canon Ellacombe[16]says it was “and still is valued as a forage plant that will grow and keep fresh all the winter in dry, barren pastures, thus giving food for sheep when other food was scarce. It has occasionally been cultivated, but the result has not been very satisfactory, except on very poor land, though, according to the Woburn experiments, as reported by Sinclair, it contains a larger amount of nutritive matter in the spring than most of the grasses. It has brown flowers from which it is supposed to derive its name (Brunetto).”

[15]Turner’s Herbal is beautifully illustrated; five initial letters from it areherereproduced.[16]“Plant-lore and Garden-Craft of Shakespeare.”

[15]Turner’s Herbal is beautifully illustrated; five initial letters from it areherereproduced.

[16]“Plant-lore and Garden-Craft of Shakespeare.”

INITIAL LETTERS FROM TURNER’S “HERBAL”

Shallow.Now, you shall see my orchard, where, in an arbour we will eat a last year’s Pippin of my own grafting, with a dish of Caraways, and so forth.II. Henry IV.v. 3.

In Elizabethan days, Caraway Seeds were appreciatedat dessert, and Canon Ellacombe says that the custom of serving roast apples with a little saucerful of Caraway Seed is still kept up at some of the London livery dinners. It was the practice to put them among baked fruits or into bread-cakes, and they were also “made into comfits.” In cakes and comfits they are used to-day, and in Germany I have seen them served with potatoes fried in slices. The roots were boiled and “eaten as carrots,” and made a “very welcome and delightful dish to a great many,” though some found them rather strong flavoured. “The[17]Duchemen call it Mat kumell or Wishenkumel and the Freses, Hofcumine. It groweth in great plentye in Freseland in the meadows there betweene Marienhoffe and Werden, hard by the sea banke.”

[17]“Turner’s Herbal,” 1538.

This is quite without romance. The older herbalists did not know it and Evelyn says: “Sellery... was formerly a stranger with us (nor very long since inItalyitself).... Nor is it a distinctspeciesofsmallageor Macedonian Parsley, tho’ somewhat more hot and generous, by its frequent transplanting, and thereby render’d sweeter scented.” For its “high and grateful taste, it is ever plac’d in the middle of thegrand sallet, at our great men’s tables, and Proctor’s Feasts, as the grace of the whole board.” But though Parkinson did not know the plant under this name, he did see some of the first introduced into England, and gives an interesting account of this introduction to “sweete Parsley or sweet Smallage.... This resembles sweete Fennell.... The first that ever I saw was in a Venetian Ambassador’s garden in the spittle yard, near Bishop’s Gate Streete. The first year it is planted with us it is sweete and pleasant, especially while it is young, but after it has grown high and large hath a stronger taste of smallage,and so likewise much more the following yeare. The Venetians used to prepare it for meate many waies, both the herbe and roote eaten rawe, or boyled or fryed to be eaten with meate, or the dry’d herb poudered and strewn upon meate; but most usually either whited and so eaten raw with pepper and oyle as a dainty sallet of itselfe, or a little boyled or stewed... the taste of the herbe being a little warming, but the seede much more.”

Chibolles and Chervelles and ripe chiries manye.Piers Plowman.

Chibolles and Chervelles and ripe chiries manye.

Piers Plowman.

Chervil was much used by the French and Dutch “boyled or stewed in a pipkin. De la Quintinye recommends it to give a ‘perfuming rellish’ to the salad, and Evelyn says the ‘Sweete(and as theFrenchcall itMusque)SpanishChervile,’ is the best and ought ‘never to be wanting in our sallets,’ for it is ‘exceeding wholesome and charming to the spirits.’... This (as likewise Spinach) is used in tarts and serves alone for divers sauces.”

Acorns, plump as Chibbals.The Gipsies Metamorphosed.—Ben Jonson.

Acorns, plump as Chibbals.

The Gipsies Metamorphosed.—Ben Jonson.

Ciboules are a small kind of onion; De la Quintinye says, “Onions degenerated.” From the reference to them inPiers Plowman, they were evidently in common use here in the time of Langlande. The French gardener adds that they are “propagated only by seeds of the bignes of a corn of ordinary gun-powder,” and Mr Britten identifies them with Scallions or Shallot (A. ascalonium).

Straightways follow’d inA case of small musicians, with a dinOf little Hautbois, whereon each one strivesTo show his skill; they all were made of seives,Excepting one, which puff’d the player’s face,And was a Chibole, serving for the bass.Britannia’s Pastorals, Book III.

Britannia’s Pastorals, Book III.

Cives and Ciboules are often mentioned together, as in this account of King Oberon’s feast. The leaves are green and hollow and look like rushesen miniature, and would serve admirably for elfin Hautbois. Miss Amherst[18]says that they are mentioned in a list of herbs (Sloane MS., 1201) found “at the beginning of a book of cookery recipes, fifteenth century.” She also tells us that when Kalm came to England (May 1748) he noticed them among the vegetables most grown in the nursery-gardens round London. They were “esteemed milder than onions,” and of a “quick rellish,” but their fame has declined in the last hundred years. Loudon says that the leaves are occasionally used to flavour soup, salads and omelettes—unlike ciboules, the bulb is not used—but the chief purpose for which I have heard them required is to mix with the food for young guinea-fowls and chickens.

[18]“History of Gardening in England.”

And Coriander last to these succeedsThat hangs on slightest threads her trembling seeds.The Salad.—Cowper.

And Coriander last to these succeedsThat hangs on slightest threads her trembling seeds.

The Salad.—Cowper.

The chief interest attached to Coriander is that in the Book of Numbers, xi. 7, Manna is compared to the seed. It was originally introduced from the East, but is now naturalised in Essex and other places, where it has long been cultivated for druggists and confectioners. Theseeds are quite round, like tiny balls, and Hogg remarks that they become fragrant by drying, and the longer they are kept the more fragrant they become. “If taken oute of measure it doth trouble a manne’s witt, with great jeopardye of madnes.”[19]Nowadays one comes across them oftenest in little round pink and white comfits for children.

[19]Turner.

Cummin good for eyes,The roses reigning the pride of May,Sharp isope good for greene woundes remedies.[20]

Cumin is also mentioned in the Bible by Isaiah; and also in the New Testament, as one of the plants that were tithed. It is very seldom met with, but the seeds have the same properties as caraway seeds. Gerarde says it has “little jagged leaves, very finely cut into small parcels,” and “spoky tufts” of red or purplish flowers. “The root is slender, which perisheth when it hath ripened his seed,” and it delights in a hot soil. He recommends it to be boyled together with wine and barley meale “to the forme of a pultis” for a variety of ailments. In Germany the seeds are put into bread and they figure in folklore. De Gubernatis says it gave rise to a saying among the Greeks: “Le cumin symbolisait, chez les Grecs, ce qui est petit. Des avares, ils disaient, qu’ils auraient même partagé le cumin.”

[20]Muiopotmos.—Spenser.

Darting fish that on a summer mornAdown the crystal dykes of Camelot,Come slipping o’er their shadows on the sand....Betwixt the cressy islets, white in flower.Geraint and Enid.

Darting fish that on a summer mornAdown the crystal dykes of Camelot,Come slipping o’er their shadows on the sand....Betwixt the cressy islets, white in flower.

Geraint and Enid.

To purl o’er matted cress and ribbed sand,Or dimple in the dark of rushy coves.Ode to Memory.—Tennyson.

To purl o’er matted cress and ribbed sand,Or dimple in the dark of rushy coves.

Ode to Memory.—Tennyson.

Valley lilies, whiter stillThan Leda’s love and cresses from the rill.Endymion.

Valley lilies, whiter stillThan Leda’s love and cresses from the rill.

Endymion.

Cresses that grow where no man may them see.Ibid.

Cresses that grow where no man may them see.

Ibid.

I linger round my shingly bars,I loiter round my cresses.The Brook.—Tennyson.

I linger round my shingly bars,I loiter round my cresses.

The Brook.—Tennyson.

Cresses have great powers of fascination for the poets, and “the cress of the Herbalist is a noun of multitude,” says Dr Fernie. Of these now cultivated, St Barbara’s Cress (Barbarea vulgaris) has the most picturesque name, and is the least known. It was once grown for a winter salad, but American Cress (Erysimum præcox) is more recommended for winter and early spring. Indian Cress (Tropæolum majus), usually known as nasturtium, is seldom counted a herb, although it is included in some old gardening lists, for the sake of the pickle into which its unripe fruits were made. Abercrombie adds that the flowers and young leaves are used in salads, but this must be most rare in England; though, when once in Brittany, I remember that thebonneused to ornament the salad on Sundays with an artistic decoration of scarlet and striped nasturtium flowers. Garden Cress (Lepidium sativum), the tiny kind, associated in one’s mind since nursery days with “mustard,” used to be known asPasserage, as it was believed to drive away madness. Dr Fernie continues, that the Greeks loved cress, and had a proverb, “Eat Cresses and get wit.” They were much prized by our poor people, when pepper was a luxury. “The Dutchmen[21]and others used to eate Cresses familiarly with their butter and breade, as also stewed or boyled, either alone or with other herbs, whereof they make a Hotch-Potch. We doe eate it mixedwith Lettuce and Purslane, or sometimes with Tarragon or Rocket with oyle, vinegar, and a little salt, and in that manner it is very savoury.”

Water-Cress (Nasturtium officinale) is rich in mineral salts and is valuable as food. The leaves remain “green when grown in the shade, but become of a purple brown because of their iron, when exposed to the sun,” says Dr Fernie. “It forms the chief ingredient of theSirop Antiscorbutique, given so successfully by the French faculty.” “Water-Cress pottage” is a good remedy “to help head aches. Those that would live in health may use it if they please, if they will not I cannot help it.” This is Culpepper’s advice, but he relents even to those too weak-minded to avail themselves of a cure, salutary but unpalatable. “If they fancy not pottage they may eat the herb as a sallet.”

[21]Parkinson.

Dandelion, with globe and down,The schoolboy’s clock in every town,Which the truant puffs amain,To conjure lost hours back again.William Howitt.

Dandelion, with globe and down,The schoolboy’s clock in every town,Which the truant puffs amain,To conjure lost hours back again.

William Howitt.

Dandelion leaves used to be boiled with lentils, and one recipe bids one have them “chopped as pot-herbes, with a few Allisanders boyled in their broth.” But generally they were regarded as a medicinal, rather than a salad plant. Evelyn, however, includes them in his list, and says they should be “macerated in several waters, to extract the Bitterness. It was with this Homely Fare theGood Wife Hecateentertain’dTheseus.” A better way of “extracting the Bitterness” is to blanch the leaves, and it has been advised to dig up plants from the road-sides in winter when salad is scarce, and force them in pots like succory. He continues that of late years “they have been sold in mostHerb ShopsaboutLondonfor being awonderful Purifier of the Blood.” Culpepper, whose fiery frankness it is impossible to resist quoting, manages on this subject to get his knife into the doctors, as, to do him justice, he seldom loses an opportunity of doing. “You see what virtues this common herb hath, and this is the reason the French and Dutch so often eate them in the spring, and now, if you look a little further, you may see plainly, without a pair of spectacles, that foreign physicians are not so selfish as ours are, but more communicative of the virtues of plants to people.” The Irish used to call it Heart-Fever-Grass. The root, when roasted and ground, has been substituted for coffee, and gave satisfaction to some of those who drank it. Hogg relates a tale of woe from the island of Minorca, how that once locusts devoured the harvest there, and the inhabitants were forced to, and did subsist on this root, but does not mention for what length of time.

SWEET CICELY AND OTHER HERBS

The nightshade strews to work him ill,Therewith her vervain and her dill.Nymphidia.—Drayton.

The nightshade strews to work him ill,Therewith her vervain and her dill.

Nymphidia.—Drayton.

Here holy vervayne and here dill,’Gainst witchcraft much availing,The Muses Elysium.

Here holy vervayne and here dill,’Gainst witchcraft much availing,

The Muses Elysium.

The wonder-working dill he gets not far from these.Polyolbion.Song xiii.

The wonder-working dill he gets not far from these.

Polyolbion.Song xiii.

Dill is supposed to have been derived from a Norse word “to dull,” because the seeds were given to babies to make them sleep. Beyond this innocent employment it was a factor in working spells of the blackest magic! Dill is a graceful, umbelliferous plant—not at all suggestive of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde—and the seeds resemble caraway seeds in flavour, but are smaller, flatter and lighter. There issomethingmysterious about it, because,besides being employed in spells by witches and wizards, it was used by other people to resist spells cast by traffickers in magic, and was equally powerful to do this! Dill is very like fennel, but the leaves are shorter, smaller, and of a “stronger and quicker taste. The leaves are used with Fish, though too strong for everyone’s taste, and if added to ‘pickled Cowcumbers’ it ‘gives the cold fruit a pretty, spicie taste.’” Evelyn also praises ‘Gerckens muriated’ with the seeds ofDill, and Addison writes: “I am always pleased with that particular time of the year which is proper for the pickling of dill and cucumbers, but, alas! his cry, like the song of the nightingale, is not heard above two months.”[22]

[22]Spectator, xxv. 1.

The Daisy, Butter-flow’r and Endive blue.Pastorals.—Gay.

The Daisy, Butter-flow’r and Endive blue.

Pastorals.—Gay.

There at no cost, on onions rank and red,Or the curl’d endive’s bitter leaf, he fed.The Salad.—Cowper.

There at no cost, on onions rank and red,Or the curl’d endive’s bitter leaf, he fed.

The Salad.—Cowper.

Endive is a plant of whose virtues our prosaic days have robbed us. Once upon a time it could break all bonds and render the owner invisible, and if a lover carried it about him, he could make the lady of his choice believe that he possessed all the qualities she specially admired! Folkard quotes three legends of it from Germany, one each from Austria and Roumania, and an unmistakably Slav story—all of them of a romantic character—andweregard it as a salad herb! “There are three sorts: Green-curled leaved; principal sort for main crops, white-curled leaved, and broad Batavian” (Loudon). The green-curled leaved is the hardiest and fittest for winter use. The Batavian is not good for salads, but is specially in demand for stews and soups.All kinds must, of course, be carefully blanched. Mrs Roundell[23]reminds one that endive is a troublesome vegetable to cook, as it is apt to be crowded with insects. The leaves should be all detached from the stem and carefully washed in two or three salted waters. She also gives receipts for endive, dressed as spinach, made into a purée or cooked alone. Parkinson said: “Endive whited is much used in winter, as a sallet herbe with great delighte.”

Succory, Chicory, or Wild Endivemay be mentioned as making an excellent salad when forced and blanched, and it is popular in France, where it is calledBarbe de Capucin. Its great advantage is, as Loudon says, that “when lettuce or garden-endive are scarce, chicory can always be commanded by those who possess any of the most ordinary means of forcing.” He adds that it has been much used as fodder for cattle, and that the roots, dried and ground, are well known—only too well known, “partly along with, and partly as a substitute for coffee.”

[23]“Practical Cookery Book.”

Ophelia.There’s fennel for you and columbines.Hamlet, iv. 5.

Ophelia.There’s fennel for you and columbines.

Hamlet, iv. 5.

Fenel is for flatterers,An evil thing it is sure,But I have alwaies meant truelyWith constant heart most pure.A Handfull of Pleasant Delightes.—C. Robinson.

Fenel is for flatterers,An evil thing it is sure,But I have alwaies meant truelyWith constant heart most pure.

A Handfull of Pleasant Delightes.—C. Robinson.

Christopher.No, my good lord.Count.Yourgood lord! Oh! how this smells of fennel!The Case Altered, ii. 2.—Ben Jonson.

Christopher.No, my good lord.Count.Yourgood lord! Oh! how this smells of fennel!

The Case Altered, ii. 2.—Ben Jonson.

“Hast thou ought in thy purse?” quod he.“Any hote spices?”“I have peper, pionies,” quod she, “and a pound garlikeA ferdyng worth of fenel-seed for fastyng dayes.”Piers Plowman.

“Hast thou ought in thy purse?” quod he.“Any hote spices?”“I have peper, pionies,” quod she, “and a pound garlikeA ferdyng worth of fenel-seed for fastyng dayes.”

Piers Plowman.

Oh! faded flowers of fennel, that will not bloom againFor any south wind’s calling, for any magic rain.The Faun to his Shadow.—N. Hopper.

Oh! faded flowers of fennel, that will not bloom againFor any south wind’s calling, for any magic rain.

The Faun to his Shadow.—N. Hopper.

“Sow Fennel, sow Sorrow.”—Proverb.

Few realise from how high an estate fennel has fallen. In Shakespeare’s time we have the plainest evidence that it was the recognised emblem of flattery. Ben Jonson’s allusion is almost as pointed as Robinson’s. It is said that Ophelia’s flowers were all chosen for their significance, so, perhaps, it was not by accident that she offers fennel to her brother, in whose ears the cry must have been still ringing,

“Choose we; Laertes shall be king!”

with theecho:—

“Caps, hand, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds,‘Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!’”

Nor was it only in our own land that Fennel had this significance, for Canon Ellacombe quotes an Italian saying: “Dare Finocchio” (to give fennel), meaning “to flatter.” As to the reason that fennel should be connected with sorrow, the clue is lost, but the proverb is said still to live in New England. The conversation which takes place in “Piers Plowman,” between a priest and a poor woman, illustrates a use to which fennel was put in earlier days. The poor got it, Miss Amherst says, “to relieve the pangs of hunger on fasting days.” But it was by no means despised by the rich, for “As much as eight and a half pounds of Fennel seed was bought for the King’s Household (Edward I., 1281) for one month’s supply.” She quotes from the Wardrobe Accounts. Our use either of Common Fennel, or Sweet Fennel, or Finocchio is so limited that the practice of Parkinson’s contemporaries shall be quoted. “Fenell is of great use to trim up and strowe upon fish, as also to boyle or put among fish of divers sorts, Cowcumberspickled and other fruits, etc. The rootes are used with Parsley rootes to be boyled in broths. The seed is much used to put in Pippin pies and divers others such baked fruits, as also into bread, to give it the better relish. The Sweet Cardus Fenell being sent by Sir Henry Wotton to John Tradescante had likewise a large direction with it how to dress it, for they used to white it after it hath been transplanted for their uses, which by reason of sweetnesse by nature, and the tendernesse by art, causeth it to be more delightfull to the taste.” “Cardus Fenell” must have been Finocchio.

And goodly now the noon-tide hour,When from his high meridian tower,The sun looks down in majesty,What time about the grassy leaThe Goat’s Beard, prompt his rise to hailWith broad expanded disk, in veilClose mantling wraps his yellow head,And goes, as peasants say, to bed.Bp. Mant.

Bp. Mant.

The habits of Goat’s Beard, or as it is often called, John-go-to-bed-at-noon, are indicated by the latter name. It is less known as Joseph’s Flower, which Mr Friend[24]says “seems to owe its origin to pictures in which the husband of Mary is represented as a long-bearded old man,” but Gerarde gives the Low-Dutch name of his time, “Josephe’s Bloemen,” and says “when these flowers be come to their full maturity and ripeness, they grow into a downy blow-ball, like those of the Dandelion, which is carried away by the winde.” Evelyn praises it, and is indignant with the cunning of the seed-sellers. “Of late they have Italianiz’d the name, and now generally call itSalsifex... to disguise it, being a very common field herb, growing in most parts ofEngland,would have it thought (with many others) an Exotick.” He does not give the full Latin name, so one cannot tell whether it is our Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) that he means, orT. pratensis, the variety once more generally cultivated. The latter seems the likeliest, as its yellow flowers are far more common than the purple ones of salsify.T. porrifoliusis extremely rare in a wild state, butT. pratensisgrows in “medows and fertil pastures in most parts of England.”T. pratensisis never cultivated now, and “Salsify” applies exclusively to Purple Goat’s Beard (T. porrifolium). The old herbalists praised it very highly.

[24]“Flowers and Flower-lore.”

Dr Fernie translates its botanical name,Cochlearia, from the shape of the leaves, which resemble, he says, an old-fashioned spoon;ar, near;mor, the sea, from its favourite locality. “For the most part it is planted in gardens... yet have I found it wilde in Sundrie places... in the field next unto a farme house leading to King’s land, where my very good friend MasterBredwell, practitioner in Phisick, a learned and diligent searcher of Samples, and MasterWilliam Martin, one of the fellowship of Barbers and Chirugians, my deere and loving friend, in company with him found it and gave me knowledge of the plant, where it flourisheth to this day.... Divers think that this Horse-Radish is an enemie to Vines, and that the hatred between them is so greate, that if the roots hereof be planted neare to the Vine, it bendeth backward from it, as not willing to have fellowship with it.... Old writers ascribe this enmitie to the vine and Brassica, our Colewortes.” Both he and Parkinson think, that in transferring the “enmitie” from the cabbage to the horse-radish, the “Ancients” have been mistranslated. The Dutch called it Merretich; the French, Grand Raifort;the English, locally, Red Cole. Evelyn calls it an “excellent, universal Condiment,” and says that first steeped in water, then grated and tempered with vinegar, in which a little sugar has been dissolved, it supplies “Mustard to the Sallet, and serving likewise for any Dish besides.”

Hyssop, as an herb most prime,Here is my wreath bestowing.Muses Elysium.—Drayton.

Hyssop, as an herb most prime,Here is my wreath bestowing.

Muses Elysium.—Drayton.

Iago.“Our bodies are our gardeners; so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme... why the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.”Othello, i. 3.

Parkinson opens his “Theatre of Plants” with the words: “From a Paradise of pleasant Flowers, I am fallen (Adamlike) to a world of Profitable Herbs and Plants... and first of the Hisopes.... Among other uses, the golden hyssop was of so pleasant a colour, that it provoked every gentlewoman to wear them in their heads and on their arms with as much delight as many fine flowers can give.” It is a hardy, evergreen shrub, with a strong aromatic odour. The flowers are blue, and appear more or less from June till October. TheUssoposof Dioscorides was named fromazob, a holy herb, because it was used for cleansing sacred places, and this is interesting when one thinks of Scriptural allusions to the plant, although the hyssop of the Bible is most probably not our hyssop. The identity of that plant has occasioned much divergence of opinion, and a decision, beyond reach of criticism, has not yet been reached. Mazes were sometimes planted with “Marjoram and such like, or Isope and Time. It may eyther be sette with Isope and Time or with Winter Savory and Time, for these endure all the Winter thorowe greene.”[25]

It was more often used for “Broths and Decoctions” than for salads, but the tops and flowers were sometimes powdered and strewn on the top of one. It is not much used nowadays, but I once saw an excitable Welsh cook seize on a huge bunch of “dear Hyssop” with exclamations of joy. In the East, “some plants diverted fascination by their smell,”[26]and hyssop was one of these, and as a protection against the Evil Eye, was hung up in houses.

[25]“Art of Gardening,” Hill, 1563.[26]Friend.

[25]“Art of Gardening,” Hill, 1563.

[26]Friend.

Lamb’s Lettuce is variously known asmâche,doucette,salade de chanoine,poule-grasse, and was formerly called “Salade de Prêter, for their being generally eaten in Lent.” It is a small plant, with “whitish-greene, long or narrow round-pointed leaves... and tufts of small bleake blue flowers.” In corn-fields it grows wild, but Gerarde says, “since it hath growne in use among the French and Dutch strangers in England, it hath been sowen in gardens as a salad herbe,” and adds that among winter and early spring salads “it is none of the worst.” The fact of its being “recognised” at a comparatively late date, by the English, and even then through the practices of the French, perhaps accounts for the lack of English “pet” names, conspicuous beside the number bestowed on it on the other side of the Channel. De la Quintinye is not in accord with his countrymen on the subject, for he calls it a “wild and rusticall Salad, because, indeed, it is seldom brought before any Noble Company.” Despite this disparaging remark, it is still a favourite in France, and it is surprising that a salad plant that stands cold so well should not be more cultivated in this country. Lettuce is so much more recognised as a vegetable than a herb that it will not be mentioned here.

Lafeu.’Twas a good lady, ’twas a good lady. We may pick a thousand salads ere we light on such another herb.Clown.Indeed, Sir, she was the Sweet Marjoram of the Salad, or rather the herb of grace.All’s Well that Ends Well, iv. 5.

Lafeu.’Twas a good lady, ’twas a good lady. We may pick a thousand salads ere we light on such another herb.

Clown.Indeed, Sir, she was the Sweet Marjoram of the Salad, or rather the herb of grace.

All’s Well that Ends Well, iv. 5.

Not all the ointments brought from Delos’ Isle,Nor that of quinces, nor of marjoram,That ever from the Isle of Coös came,Nor these, nor any else, though ne’er so rare,Could with this place for sweetest smells compare.Britannia’s Pastorals.

Britannia’s Pastorals.

O, bind them posies of pleasant flowers,Of marjoram, mint and rue.Devonshire Song.

O, bind them posies of pleasant flowers,Of marjoram, mint and rue.

Devonshire Song.

The scent of marjoram used to be very highly prized, and in some countries the plant is the symbol of honour. Dr Fernie saysOriganummeans in Greek the “joy of the mountains,” so charming a name one wishes it could be more often used. Among[27]the Greeks, if it grew on the grave it augured the happiness of the departed; “May many flowers grow on this newly-built tomb” (is the prayer once offered); “not the dried-up Bramble, or the red flower loved by goats; but Violets and Marjoram, and the Narcissus growing in water, and around thee may all Roses grow.”

Parkinson writes it was “put in nosegays, and in the windows of houses, as also in sweete pouders, sweete bags, and sweete washing waters.... Our daintiest women doe put it to still among their sweet herbes.” Pusser mentions it among his “herbs for strewing,” and in some recipes forpot pourriit is still included.Origanum vulgaregrows wild, and the dry leaves are made into a tea “which is extremely grateful.” The different kinds of marjoram are now chiefly used for soups and stuffings. Isaac Walton gives instructions for dressing a pike, anddirects that among the accessories should be sweet marjoram, thyme, a little winter savoury and some pickled oysters!

[27]Friend.

POT MARJORAM

The neighb’ring nymphs each in her turn...Some running through the meadows with them bringCowslips and mint.Britannia’s Pastorals, book i.

The neighb’ring nymphs each in her turn...Some running through the meadows with them bringCowslips and mint.

Britannia’s Pastorals, book i.

In strewing of these herbs... with bounteous hands and free,The healthful balm and mint from their full laps do fly.Polyolbion, Song xv.

In strewing of these herbs... with bounteous hands and free,The healthful balm and mint from their full laps do fly.

Polyolbion, Song xv.

Sunflowers and marigolds and mint beset us,Moths white as stitchwort that had left its stem,... Loyal as sunflowers we will not swerve us,We’ll make the mints remembered spices serve usFor autumn as in spring.N. Hopper.

N. Hopper.

“Mint,” says De la Quintinye, “is called in French Balm,” which sounds rather confusing; but Evelyn says it is the “Curled Mint,M. Sativa Crispa,” that goes by this name. Mint was also called “Menthe de Notre Dame,” and in Italy, “Erba Santa Maria,” and in Germany, “Frauen Münze,” though this name is also applied to costmary. This herb used to be strewn in churches. All the various kinds of it were thought to be good against the biting of serpents, sea-scorpions, and mad dogs, but violently antagonistic to the healing processes of wounds. “They are extreme bad for wounded people, and they say a wounded man that eats Mints, his wound will never be cured, and that is a long day! But they are good to be put into Baths.”[28]The “gentler tops of Orange Mint” (Mentha citrata?) are recommended “mixed with a Salad or eaten alone, with the juyce of Orange and a little Sugar.”

The mint we commonly use isMentha Viridisor SpearMint. “Divers have held for true, that Cheeses will not corrupt, if they be either rubbed over withe the juyce or a decoction of Mints, or they laid among them.” It has been said, too, that an infusion of mint will prevent the rapid curdling of milk. Being dried, mint was much used to put with pennyroyal into puddings, and also among “pease that are boyled for pottage.” The last is one of the few uses that survives. Parkinson complains of all sorts of mints, that once planted in a garden they are difficult to get rid of!

Cat Mint, or Nep(Nepeta Cataria) is eaten in Tansies. “According to Hoffman the root of the Cat Mint, if chewed, will make the most gentle person fierce and quarrelsome.”[29]

Pepper Mintis still retained, as is Spear Mint, in the British Pharmacopœia. “The leaves have an intensely pungent aromatic taste resembling that of pepper, and accompanied with a peculiar sensation of coldness” (Thornton).

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