Mustard(Sinapis).

[28]Culpepper.[29]Folkard.

[28]Culpepper.

[29]Folkard.

Bottom.Your name, I beseech you, sir?Mustardseed.Mustardseed.Bottom.Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well: that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise you your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I desire your more acquaintance, good Master Mustardseed.Midsummer-Night’s Dream, iii. 1.

Bottom.Your name, I beseech you, sir?

Mustardseed.Mustardseed.

Bottom.Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well: that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise you your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I desire your more acquaintance, good Master Mustardseed.

Midsummer-Night’s Dream, iii. 1.

In 1664 Evelyn wrote that mustard is of “incomparable effect to quicken and revive the Spirits, strengthening the Memory and expelling Heaviness.... InItaly, in makingMustard, they mingleLemonandOrangePeels with the seeds.” In England the best mustard came from Tewkesbury. It is a curious instance of the instability of fashion that only twenty-four years before Evelyn madethese remarks, Parkinson wrote: “Our ancient forefathers, even the better sort, in the most simple, and as I may say the more healthful age of the world, were not sparing in the use thereof... but nowadayes it is seldom used by the successors, being accounted the clownes sauce, and therefore not fit for their tables; but is transferred either to the meyny or meaner sort, who therefore reap the benefit thereof.” He adds it is “of good use, being fresh for Epilepticke persons... if it be applyed both inwardly and outwardly.” There were some drawbacks to being sick or sorry in the “good old days.” It was customary in Italy to keep the mustard in balls till it was wanted, and these balls were made up with honey or vinegar and a little cinnamon added. When the mustard was required, the ball was “relented” with a little more vinegar. Canon Ellacombe says: “Balls were the form in which Mustard was usually sold, till Mrs Clements of Durham, in the last century, invented the method of dressing mustard flour like wheat flour and made her fortune with Durham Mustard!” We cultivateSinapis nigrafor its seed andSinapis albaas a small salad herb.

The tender tops of Parsley next he culls,Then the old rue bush shudders as he pulls.The Salad.

The tender tops of Parsley next he culls,Then the old rue bush shudders as he pulls.

The Salad.

Quinces and Peris ciryppe (syrup) with parcely rotes,Right so begyn your mele.Russell’sBoke of Nature.

Quinces and Peris ciryppe (syrup) with parcely rotes,Right so begyn your mele.

Russell’sBoke of Nature.

Fat colworts and comforting perseline,Cold lettuce and refreshing rosmarine.Muiopotmos.—Spenser.

Fat colworts and comforting perseline,Cold lettuce and refreshing rosmarine.

Muiopotmos.—Spenser.

Parsley has the “curious botanic history that no one can tell what is its native country. Probably the plant has been so altered by cultivation as to have lost all likenessto its original self.”[30]Superstitions connected with it are myriad, and Folkard gives two Greek sayings that are interesting. It was the custom among them to border the garden with parsley and rue, and from this arose an idiom, when any undertaking was talked of, but not begun, “Oh! we are only at the Parsley and Rue.” Parsley was used, too, to strew on graves, and hence came a saying “to be in need of parsley,” signifying to be at death’s door. Mr Friend quotes an English adage that “Fried parsley will bring a man to his saddle and a woman to her grave,” but says that he has heard no reason given for this strange and apparently pointless dictum. Plutarch tells of a panic created in a Greek force, marching against the enemy, by their suddenly meeting some mules laden with parsley, which the soldiers looked upon as an evil omen; and W. Jones, in his “Crowns and Coronations,” says, “Timoleon nearly caused a mutiny in his army because he chose his crown to be of parsley, when his soldiers wished it to be of the pine or pitch tree.” In many parts of England it is considered unlucky, and I quote from a paper read before the Devon and Exeter Gardeners’ Association in 1897. “It is one of the longest seeds to lie in the ground before germinating; it has been said to go to the Devil and back again nine times before it comes up. And many people have a great objection to planting parsley, saying if you do there will sure to be a death in the Family within twelve months.” It is only fair to add that this delightful lapse into folk-lore comes in the midst of most excellent and practical advice for its cultivation. “Quite recently (in 1883) a gentleman, living near Southampton, told his gardener to sow some Parsley seed. The man, however, refused, saying that it would be a bad day’s work to him if ever he brought Parsley seed into the house. He said that he would not mindbringing a plant or two and throwing them down, that his master might pick them up if he chose, but he would not bring them to him for anything.”[31]

The “earliest known, really original work on gardening, written in English,” is, Miss Amherst says, “a treatise in verse,” by Mayster Ion Gardener. It consists of a prologue and eight divisions, and one of these is devoted to “Perselye” alone. The manuscript in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, that she quotes from, was written about 1440, but it is thought that the poem is older. Parsley was “much used in all sortes of meates, both boyled, roasted and fryed, stewed, etc., and being green it serveth to lay upon sundry meates. It is also shred and stopped into powdered beefe.... The roots are put into broth, or boyled or stewed with a legge of Mutton... and are of a very good rellish, but the roots must be young and of the first year’s growth.”[32]

The seeds of parsley were sometimes put into cheese to flavour it, and Timbs (“Things not generally Known”) tells this anecdote: “Charlemagne once ate cheese mixed with parsley seeds at a bishop’s palace, and liked it so much that ever after he had two cases of such cheese sent yearly to Aix-la-Chapelle.”

In the edition of Tusser’s “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry,” edited by Mavor, it is noted, “Skim-milk cheese, however, might be advantageously mixed with seeds, as is the practice in Holland.” Though not strictly relevant, these lines taken by Mrs Milne-Home (“Stray Leaves from a Border-Garden”) from the family records of the Earls of Marchmont, must find place. They were written by a boy of eight or nine, on the occasion of his elder brother’s birthday.

This day from parsley-bed, I’m sure,Was dug my elder brother, Moore,Had Papa dug me up before him,So many now would not adore him,But hang it! he’s but onely oneAnd if he trips off, I’m Sr John.

Horse-radishwas treated here as a seasoning, butradishis counted among vegetables proper.

[30]Plant Lore and Garden Craft of Shakespeare.[31]Friend.[32]Parkinson.

[30]Plant Lore and Garden Craft of Shakespeare.

[31]Friend.

[32]Parkinson.

Sage is for sustenanceThat should man’s life sustaine,For I do stil lie languishingContinually in paine,And shall doe still until I die,Except thou favour show,My paine and all my grievous smart,Ful wel you do it know.Handful of Pleasant Delights.

Handful of Pleasant Delights.

And then againe he turneth to his playe,To spoyle the pleasures of the Paradise,The wholesome saulge and lavender still gray.Muiopotmos.—Spenser.

And then againe he turneth to his playe,To spoyle the pleasures of the Paradise,The wholesome saulge and lavender still gray.

Muiopotmos.—Spenser.

Sage is one of those sympathetic plants that feel the fortunes of their owners; and Mr Friend says that a Buckinghamshire farmer told him his recent personal experience. “At one time he was doing badly, and the Sage began to wither, but, as soon as the tide turned, the plant began to thrive again.” Most of the Continental names of the plant are like the botanical one ofSalvia, from “Salvo,” to save or heal, and its high reputation in medicine lasted for ages. The Arabians valued it, and the medical school of Salerno summed up its surpassing merits in the line,Cur morietur homo cui Salvia crescit in horto?(How can a man die who grows sage in his garden?) Perhaps this originated the Englishsaying:—

He that would live for ayeMust eat Sage in May.

Parkinson mentions that it is “Much used of many in the month of May fasting,” with butter and parsley, andis “held of most” to conduce to health. “It healeth the pricking of the fishe called in Latinepastinaca marina, whych is like unto a flath, with venomous prickes, about his tayle. It maketh hayre blacke; it is good for woundis.”[33]The “Grete Herball” contains a remedy for Lethargy or Forgetfulness, which consists of making a decoction “of tutsan, of smalage and of sauge,” and bathing the back of the head with it.

Pepys notes that in a little churchyard between Gosport and Southampton the custom prevailed of sowing the graves with sage. This is rather curious, as it has never been one of the plants specially connected with death.

Evelyn sums up its “Noble Properties” thus: “In short ’tis a Plant endu’d with so many and wonderful Properties, as that the assiduous use of it is said to render MenImmortal. We cannot therefore but allow the tenderSummitiesof the young Leaves, but principally the Flowers in our Sallet; yet so as not to domineer.... ’Tis credibly affirmed, that theDutchfor some time drove a very lucrative Trade with the dry’d Leves of what is calledSage of VertueandGuernsey Sage.... Both the Chineses and Japaneses are great admirers of that sort of Sage, and so far prefer it to their own Tea... that for whatSagethey purchase of theDutch, they give triple the quantity of the choicestTeain exchange.”

“Frytures” (fritters) of Sage are described as having place at banquets in the Middle Ages (Russell’s “Boke of Nurture”). Besides these other uses the seeds of sage like parsley seeds were used to flavour cheese. Gay refers tothis:—

Marbled with Sage,The hardening cheese she pressed,

and to “Sage cheese,” too, and Timbs says, “Thepractice of mixing sage and other herbs with cheese was common among the Romans.”

[33]Turner.

Some Camomile doth not amiss,With Savoury and some tansy.Muses Elysium.

Some Camomile doth not amiss,With Savoury and some tansy.

Muses Elysium.

Here’s flowers for you,Hot Lavender, Mints, Savory, Marjoram.Winter’s Tale, iv. 4.

Here’s flowers for you,Hot Lavender, Mints, Savory, Marjoram.

Winter’s Tale, iv. 4.

Sound savorie, and bazil, hartie-hale,Fat Colwortes and comforting Perseline,Cold Lettuce and refreshing Rosmarine.Muiopotmos.

Sound savorie, and bazil, hartie-hale,Fat Colwortes and comforting Perseline,Cold Lettuce and refreshing Rosmarine.

Muiopotmos.

Savory, satureia, was once supposed to belong to the satyrs. “Mercury claims the dominion over this herb. Keep it dry by you all the year, if you love yourself and your ease, and it is a hundred pounds to a penny if you do not.” Culpepper follows this advice with a long list of ailments, for all of which this herb is an excellent remedy. Summer savory (S. hortensis) and winter savory (S. Montana) are the only kinds considered in England as a rule, though Gerarde further mentions “a stranger,” which, “because it groweth plentifully upon the rough cliffs of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italie, called Saint Julian rocke,” is named after the saint,Satureia Sancti Juliani. In other countries summer savory used to be strewn upon the dishes as we strew parsley, and served with peas or beans; rice, wheat and sometimes the dried herb was “boyled among pease to make pottage.” Winter savory used to be dried and powdered and mixed with grated bread, “to breade their meate, be it fish or flesh, to give it a quicker rellish.” Here Parkinson breaks off to deliver a severe reproof to “this delicate age of ours, which is not pleased with anything almost that is not pleasantto the palate,” and therefore neglects many viands which would be of great benefit. Both savories are occasionally used more or less in the way he suggests, winter savory being the favourite. In Cotton’s sequel to the “Complete Angler,” a “handful of sliced horse-radish-root, with a handsome little faggot of rosemary, thyme and winter savoury” is recommended in the directions for “dressing a trout.” One of the virtues attributed to both savories by the old herbalists is still agreed to by some gardeners: “A shoot of it rubbed on wasp or bee stings instantly gives relief.”

Simplest growth of Meadow-sweet or SorrelSuch as the summer-sleepy Dryads weave.Swinburne.

Simplest growth of Meadow-sweet or SorrelSuch as the summer-sleepy Dryads weave.

Swinburne.

Cresses that grow where no man may them see,And sorrel, untorn by the dew-claw’d stag;Pipes will I fashion of the syrinx flag.Endymion.

Cresses that grow where no man may them see,And sorrel, untorn by the dew-claw’d stag;Pipes will I fashion of the syrinx flag.

Endymion.

There flourish’d starwort and the branching beetThe sorrel acid and the mallow sweet.The Salad.

There flourish’d starwort and the branching beetThe sorrel acid and the mallow sweet.

The Salad.

Here curling sorrel that againWe use in hot diseasesThe medicinable mallow here...Muses Elysium.

Here curling sorrel that againWe use in hot diseasesThe medicinable mallow here...

Muses Elysium.

Sorrel and mallow seem to have been associates anciently, perhaps because it was thought that the virtues of the one would counterbalance those of the other. “From May to August the meadows are often ruddy with the sorrel, the red leaves of which point out the graves of the Irish rebels who fell at Tara Hill in the ‘Ninety-eight,’ the local tradition asserting that the plants sprang from the patriots’ blood.”[34]The Spaniards used to call sorrel, Agrellesand Azeda, and the French Aigrette and Surelle. In England it used to be “eaten in manner of a Spinach tart or eaten as meate,” and the French and Dutch still do, I believe, and at anyrate did quite lately, use it as spinach. Sorrel was often added by them to herb-patience when that was used as a pot-herb, and was said to give it an excellent flavour. The same recipe has been tried and approved in England as well as (a little) sorrel cooked with turnip-tops or spinach; the former of these dishes is said to be good and the second certainly is. Evelyn thought that sorrel imparted “so grateful a quickeness to the salad that it should never be left out,” and De la Quintinye says that in France besides being mixed in salads it is generally used in Bouillons or thin Broths. Of the two kinds, Garden Sorrel,Rumex Acetosa, and French Sorrel,R. Scutatus, either may be used indifferently in cooking, though some people decidedly prefer the French kind. Mrs Roundell says that sorrel carefully prepared can be cooked in any of the ways recommended for spinach, but that it should be cooked as soon as it is picked, and if this is impossible must be revived in water before being cooked.

[34]Folkard.

THE LAVENDER WALK AT STRATHFIELDSAYE

“Tarragon is cherished in gardens.... Ruellius and such others have reported many strange tales hereof scarce worth the noting, saying that the seede of flaxe put into a radish roote or sea onion, and so set, doth bring forth this herbe Tarragon.” This idea was apparently still current though discredited by the less superstitious in Gerarde’s time. Parkinson mentions a great dispute between ancient herbalists as to the identity of the flower called Chysocoma by Dioscorides. After quoting various opinions and depreciating some of them he approves the decision of Molinaus that Tarragonwas the plant. He describes it “in leaves... like unto the ordinary long-leafed Hisope... of the colour ofCyperus, of a taste not unpleasant which is somewhat austere with the sweetnesse.” It is a native of Siberia, but has long been cultivated in France, and the name is a corruption of the FrenchEsdragonand means “Little Dragon.” Though no reason for this war-like title is obvious, the name is practically the same in several other countries. The leaves were good pickled, and it is altogether a fine aromatic herb for soups and salads. Vinegars for salads and sauce used often in earlier days to be “aromatized” by steeping in them rosemary, gilliflowers, barberries and so forth, but the only herb used for this purpose at the present time is tarragon. Tarragon vinegar can still be easily obtained. “The volatile essential oil of tarragon is chemically identical with that of anise” (Fernie).

The bees on the bells of thyme........Were as silent as ever old Timolus wasListening to my sweet pipings.Pan’s Music—Shelley.

The bees on the bells of thyme........Were as silent as ever old Timolus wasListening to my sweet pipings.

Pan’s Music—Shelley.

In my garden grew plenty of thyme,It would flourish by night and by day,O’er the wall came a lad, he took all that I had,And stole my thyme away.O! And I was a damsel so fair,But fairer I wished to appear,So I washed me in milk, and I dressed me in silk,And put the sweet thyme in my hair.Devonshire Songs.

In my garden grew plenty of thyme,It would flourish by night and by day,O’er the wall came a lad, he took all that I had,And stole my thyme away.

O! And I was a damsel so fair,But fairer I wished to appear,So I washed me in milk, and I dressed me in silk,And put the sweet thyme in my hair.

Devonshire Songs.

Beneath your feet,Thyme that for all your bruising smells more sweet.N. Hopper.

Beneath your feet,Thyme that for all your bruising smells more sweet.

N. Hopper.

Some from the fen bring reeds, wild thyme from downs,Some from a grove, the bay that poets crowns.Br. Pastorals, book ii.

Some from the fen bring reeds, wild thyme from downs,Some from a grove, the bay that poets crowns.

Br. Pastorals, book ii.

Here, dancing feet fall still,Here, where wild thyme and sea-pinks brave wild weather.N. Hopper.

Here, dancing feet fall still,Here, where wild thyme and sea-pinks brave wild weather.

N. Hopper.

O! Cupid was that saucy boy,Who furrows deeply drew.He broke soil, destroyed the soilOf wild thyme wet with dew.Before his feet, the field was sweetWith flowers and grasses green,Behind, turn’d down, and bare and brownBy Cupid’s coulter keen.Devonshire Songs.

Devonshire Songs.

“Among the Greeks, thyme denoted graceful elegance of the Attic style,” and was besides an emblem of activity. “‘To smell of Thyme’ was therefore an expression of praise, applied to those whose style was admirable” (Folkard). In the days of chivalry, when activity was a virtue very highly rated, ladies used “to embroider their knightly lovers’ scarves with the figure of a bee hovering about a sprig of thyme.”[35]In the south of France wild thyme orFerigouleis a symbol of advanced Republicanism, and tufts of it were sent with the summons to a meeting to members of a society holding those views. Gerarde, in his writings, plainly shows that he and his contemporaries didnotindiscriminately call all plants “herbs,” but distinguished them with thought and care. “Ælianusseemeth to number wild time among the floures.Dionysius Junior(saith he) comming into the city Locris in Italy, possessed most of the houses of the city, and did strew them with roses, wild time and other such kinds of floures. Yet Virgil, in the Second Eclogue of his Bucolicks doth most manifestly testifie that wilde Time is an herbe.” Here hetranslates:—

Thestilis, for mower’s tyr’d with parching heate,Garlike, wild Time, strong smelling herbs doth beate.

Modern opinion confirms the view thatThymus capitatuswas the thyme of the ancients. The affection of bees for thyme has often been noticed, and the “fine flavour to the honey of Mount Hymettus”[36]is said to be due to this plant. Evelyn speaks of it as having “a most agreeableodor,” and a “considerable quantity being frequently, by the Hollanders, brought fromMaltha, and other places in theStreights, who sell it at home, and inFlandersfor strewing amongst theSalletsand Ragouts; and call itAll-Sauce.” Gerarde divides the garden thyme (T. vulgaris) and Wild Thyme or Mother of Thyme (T. serpyllum) into two chapters, but Parkinson takes them together and describes eleven kinds, including Lemmon Thyme, which has the “sent of a Pomecitron or Lemmon”; and “Guilded or embrodered Tyme,” whose leaves have “a variable mixture of green and yellow.” Abercrombie’s information is always given in a concentrated form. “An ever-green, sweet-scented, fine-flavoured, aromatic, under-shrub, young tops used for various kitchen purposes.”

[35]“Flora Symbolica.”Ingram.[36]Hogg, “The Vegetable Kingdom and its Products.”

[35]“Flora Symbolica.”Ingram.

[36]Hogg, “The Vegetable Kingdom and its Products.”

The virtues of this herb were known, but not much regarded, before “Monardus,[37]a famous physician inSivell,” published a book in which was “set downe that a Moore, a bond-slave, did help those that were bitten of that venomous beast or Viper... which they of Catalonia, where they breed in abundance, call in their languageEscuersos(from whenceScorsonerais derived), with the juice of the herb, and the root given them to eate,” and states that this would effect a cure when other well-authorised remedies failed. “The rootes hereof, being preserved with sugar, as I have done often, doe eate almost as delicate as the Eringus roote.” Evelyn is loud in its praise. It is “a very sweete and pleasantSallet,being laid to soak out the Bitterness, then peel’d may be eaten raw orcondited; but, best of all, stew’d withMarrow,Spice,Wine.... They likewise may bake, fry or boil them; a more excellent Root there is hardly growing.” As “Spanish Salsify” it is much recommended by other writers.

[37]Parkinson.

Who from the tumps with bright green masses clad,Plucks the Wood-Sorrel with its light green leaves,Heart shaped and triply folded; and its rootCreeping like beaded coral.Charlotte Smith.

Who from the tumps with bright green masses clad,Plucks the Wood-Sorrel with its light green leaves,Heart shaped and triply folded; and its rootCreeping like beaded coral.

Charlotte Smith.

The Wood-Sorrel has many pretty names: Alleluia, Hearts,Pain de Coucou,Oseille de Bûcheron; in Italy,Juliola. Wood-Sorrel is a plant of considerable interest. It has put forward strong claims to be identified with St Patrick’s shamrock, and it has been painted, Mr Friend says, “in the foreground of pictures by the old Italian painters, notably Fra Angelico.” For the explanation of the names: “It is called by the Apothecaries in their shoppesAlleluiaandLugula, the one because about that time it is in flower, whenAllelujain antient times was wont to be sung in the Churches; the other came corruptly fromJuliola, as they of Calabria in Naples doe call it.” By the “Alleluja sung in the churches,” Parkinson means the Psalms, from Psalm cxiii. to Psalm cxvii. (and including these two), for they end with “Hallelujah,” and were specially appointed to be sung between Easter and Whitsuntide.

“It is called Cuckowbreade, either because the Cuckowes delight to feed thereon, or that it beginneth to flower when the Cuckow beginneth to utter her voyce.” Another name was Stubwort, from its habit of growing over old “stubs” or stumps of trees, and in Wales it was called Fairy Bells, because peoplethought that the music which called the elves to “moonlight dance and revelry” came from the swinging of the tiny bells. The Latin name is a reminder that oxalic acid is obtained from this plant.

As Evelyn includes it amongst his salad herbs, I mention it here, though feeling bound to add that anyone must be a monster who could regard the graceful leaves and trembling, delicately-veined bells of this plant, full of poetry, with any other sentiment than that of passive admiration!

The wyfe of Bath was so wery, she had no wyl to walk;She toke the Priores by the honde, “Madam, wol ye stalkPryvely into the garden to se the herbis growe?”. . . And forth on they wendPassing forth softly into the herbery.Prologue to Beryn—Urry’sEdition.

Prologue to Beryn—Urry’sEdition.

Alexanders, Allisanders, the black Pot-herb or Wild Horse-Parsley, as it is variously called, grows naturally near the sea, and has often been seen growing wild near old buildings. The Italians call itHerba Alexandrina, according to some writers, because it was supposed originally to have come from Alexandria; according to others, because its[38]old name wasPetroselinum Alexandrinum, orAlexandrina, “so-called ofAlexander, the finder thereof.” The leaves are “cut into many parcells like those of Smallage,” but are larger; the seeds have an “aromaticall and spicy smell”; the root is like a little radish and good to be eaten, and if broken or cut “there issueth a juice that quickly waxeth thicke, having in it a sharpe bitterness, like in taste unto Myrrh.” The upper parts of the roots (being the tenderest) and leaves were used in broth; the young tops make an “excellent Vernal Pottage,” and may be eaten as salad, by themselves or “in composition in the Spring, or, if they be blanched, in the Winter.” They were chiefly recommendedfor the time of Lent, in a day when Lent was more strictly kept than it is now, because they are supposed to go well with fish. Alexanders resemble celery, by which it has been almost entirely supplanted, and if desired as food should be sown every year, for though it continues to grow, it produces nothing fit for the table after the second year. Pliny says it should be “digged or delved over once or twice, yea, and at any time from the blowing of the western wind Favonius in Februarie, until the later Equinox in September be past.” The reference to Favonius reminds one of those lines of exquisite freshness translated from Leonidas.

’Tis time to sail—the swallow’s note is heard!Who chattering down the soft west wind is come.The fields are all a-flower, the waves are dumb,Which ersts the winnowing blast of winter stirred.Loose cable, friend, and bid your anchor rise,Crowd all your canvas at Priapus’ hest,Who tells you from your harbours, “Now, ’twere best,Sailor, to sail upon your merchandise.”

’Tis time to sail—the swallow’s note is heard!Who chattering down the soft west wind is come.The fields are all a-flower, the waves are dumb,Which ersts the winnowing blast of winter stirred.

Loose cable, friend, and bid your anchor rise,Crowd all your canvas at Priapus’ hest,Who tells you from your harbours, “Now, ’twere best,Sailor, to sail upon your merchandise.”

[38]Britten, “Dictionary of English Plant-Names.”

ANGELICA

Contagious aire, ingendring pestilence,Infects not those that in their mouths have ta’en,Angelica that happy Counterbane,Sent down from heav’n by some celestial scout,As well the name and nature both avow’t.Du Bartas—Sylvester’s Translation, 1641.

Du Bartas—Sylvester’s Translation, 1641.

And Master-wort, whose name Dominion wears,With her, who an Angelick Title bears.Of Plants, book ii.—Cowley.

And Master-wort, whose name Dominion wears,With her, who an Angelick Title bears.

Of Plants, book ii.—Cowley.

As these lines declare, Angelica was believed to have sprung from a heavenly origin, and greatly were its powers revered. Parkinson says, “All Christian nations likewise in their appellations hereof follow the Latine name as near as their Dialect will permit, onely in Sussexthey call the wilde Kinde Kex, and the weavers wind their yarne on the dead stalkes.” The Laplanders crowned their poets with it, believing that the odour inspired them, and they also thought that the use of it “strengthens life.” The roots hung round the neck “are available against witchcraft and inchantments,” so Gerarde says, and thereby makes a concession to popular superstition, which he very rarely does. A piece of the root held in the mouth drives away infection of pestilence, and is good against all poisons, mad dogs or venomous beasts! Parkinson puts it first and foremost in a list of specially excellent medicinal herbs that he makes “for the profit and use of Country Gentlewomen and others,” and writes: “The whole plante, both leafe, roote, and seede is of an excellent comfortable sent, savour and taste.” No wonder with such powers that it gained its name. Angelica comes into a remedy for a wound from anarquebusadeor arquebuse, calledEau d’Arquebusade, which was first mentioned by Phillippe de Comines in his account of the battle of Morat, 1476. “The French still prepare it very carefully from a great number of aromatic herbs. In England, where it is theAqua Vulneriaof the Pharmacopœias, the formula is: Dried mint, angelica tops and wormwood, angelica seeds, oil of juniper and spirit of rosemary distilled with rectified spirit and water (Timbs).” It must be borne in mind that Timbs wrote some time ago, and that the knowledge of modern French scientists, like that of our own, has increased since then.

Although it is of no value in medicine (it is next to none when cultivated) our garden angelica also grows wild, and can be safely eaten. Gerarde is amusing on this point. He says it grows in an “Island in the North called Island (Iceland?). It is eaten of the inhabitants, the barke being pilled off, as we understand by some that have travelled into Island, who were sometimes compelled to eate hereof for want of other food; andthey report that it hath a good and pleasant tasteto them that are hungry.” The last words are significant! Formerly, the leaf-stalks were blanched, and eaten as celery is, but now they are chiefly used, candied, for dessert. The art of candying seems to have been brought closer to perfection abroad than at home in Turner’s time, for he says: “The rootes are now condited in Danske, for a friend of mine in London, called Maister Aleyne, a merchant man, who hath ventured over to Danske, sent me a little vessel of these, well condited with honey, very excellent good. Wherefore they that would have anye Angelica maye speake to the Marchauntes of Danske, who can provide them enough.” The fruit is used to flavourChartreuseand other “cordials.”

Dr Prior confirms Evelyn, in callingBonus HenricusBlites, but the older herbalists seem to have given this name to another plant of the same tribe, theChenopodiaceæ, because they treat ofBlitesandBonus Henricusin separate chapters. Parkinson is very uncomplimentary to them. “Blitum are of the species Amaranthum, Flower Gentle. They are used as arrach, eyther boyled of itself or stewed, which they call Loblolly.... It is altogether insipid and without taste. The unsavouriness whereof hath in many countries grown into a proverb, or by-word, to call dull, slow or lazy persons by that name.” The context points to the nickname coming from “Blites,” but no such term of reproach now exists, though the contemptuoussobriquet“Loblolly-boy” is sometimes seen in old-fashioned nautical novels. Blites were said to be hurtful to the eyes, a belief that draws a scathing remark from Gerarde, “I have heard many old wives say to their servants, ‘Gather no Blites to put in my pottage, forthey are not good for the eyesight’; whence they had those words I know not, it may be of some doctor that never went to school.” Culpepper mentions that wild blites “the fishes are delighted with, and it is a good and usual bait, for fishes will bite fast enough at them if you have but wit enough to catch when they bite.” Altogether this insipid vegetable gives scope for a good many sharp things to be said.

Blitum capitatum, usually known as strawberry-spinach, is sometimes grown in flower gardens.

The modern Latin name for this dock isRumex Sanguineus, but Gesner had a more imposing title,Sanguis draconis herba(Dragon’s blood plant). These names are, of course, derived from the crimson colour of its veins, and are the finest thing about it. The little notice it does get is not unmixed praise. “Among the sorts of pot-herbes, Blood-worte hath always been accounted a principall one, although Idoe not see any great reason therein.” This is Parkinson’s opinion, but the italics are mine.

As true as steel,As Plantage to the moon.Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2.

As true as steel,As Plantage to the moon.

Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2.

And plantain ribb’d that heals the reaper’s wound,And marg’ram sweet, in shepherds’ posies found.The School-Mistress.—Shenstone.

And plantain ribb’d that heals the reaper’s wound,And marg’ram sweet, in shepherds’ posies found.

The School-Mistress.—Shenstone.

Buck’s-horne is distinct from Buckshorn Plantain (Plantago Coronopus), but it is the latter which is chiefly interesting, and which is meant here. In Evelyn’s day the Latin name wasCornu Cervinum, and other names areHerba Stella, Herb Ivy andCorne de Cerf. Some kindsof plantain were considered good for wounds, but the saying that “plantage” is true to the moon is hard to solve. Buck’s-horne is a plant that has gone altogether out of fashion. In 1577 Hill wrote, “What care and skil is required in the sowing and ordering of the Buck’s-horne, Strawberries and Mustardseede,”—and how odd it looks now to see it coupled with the two other names, as a cherished object to spend pains upon! Le Quintinye says that the leaves, when tender, were used in “Sallad Furnitures... and the little Birds are very greedy of them.” It used to be held profitable for agues if “the rootes, with the rest of the herb,” were hung about the necke, “as nine to men and seven to women and children, but this as many other are idle amulets of no worth or value... yet, since, it hath been reported to me for a certaintie that the leaves of Buck’shorne Plantane laid to their sides that have an ague, will suddenly ease the fit, as if it had been done by witcherie; the leaves and rootes also beaten with some bay salt and applied to the wrestes, worketh the same effects, which I hold to be more reasonable and proper.” Parkinson is very ready to lay down the law as to the limits of empiricism. He is very severe about a superstition connected with Mugwort, but though the same tradition exists of plantain, and (under Mugwort) he quotes Mizaldus as mentioning it, he says nothing about this folly here. Aubrey, however, gives an account of it in his “Miscellanies.” “The last summer, on the day of St John Baptist, I accidently was walking in the pasture behind Montague House; it was twelve o’clock. I saw there about two or three and twenty young women, most of them well habited, on their knees, very busie, as if they had been weeding. I could not presently learn what the matter was; at last a young man told me that they were looking for a coal under the root of a plantain, to put under their heads that night, and they should dream whowould be their husbands. It was to be found that day and hour.” This miraculous “coal” also preserved the wearer from all sorts of diseases.

Diana!Have I (to make thee crowns) been gathering still,Fair-cheek’d Eteria’s yellow camomile?Br. Pastorals.

Diana!Have I (to make thee crowns) been gathering still,Fair-cheek’d Eteria’s yellow camomile?

Br. Pastorals.

Flowers of the field and windflowers springing glad—In airs Sicilian, and the golden boughOf sacred Plato, shining in its worth.. . . With phlox of Phœdimas and chamomile,The crinkled ox-eye of Antagoras.Trans. from Meleager.

Trans. from Meleager.

The healthful balm and mint from their full laps do fly,The scentful camomile.Polyolbion, Song xv.

The healthful balm and mint from their full laps do fly,The scentful camomile.

Polyolbion, Song xv.

Falstaff.Though the Camomile the more it is trodden on the faster it grows, yet youth the more it is wasted the sooner it wears.—I. Henry IV.ii. 4.

The camomile is dedicated to St Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, and Mr Friend thinks that the Latin name of wild camomile,Matricaria, comes from a “fanciful derivation” of this word, frommaterandcara, or “Beloved Mother.” The name camomile itself is derived from a Greek word meaning “earth-apples,” and its pleasant, refreshing smell is rather like that of ripe apples. The Spaniards call itManzanilla, “a little apple.” It was grown “both for pleasure and profit, both inward and outward diseases, both for the sicke and the sound,” and was “planted of the rootes in alleys, in walks, and on banks to sit on, for that the more it is trodden upon and pressed down in dry weather, the closer it groweth and the better it will thrive.” This was a common belief in earlier days, as Falstaff’s remark shows.

Culpepper is as trenchant as usual on the subject.“Nichersor, saith the Egyptians, dedicated it to the sun, because it cured agues, and they were like enough to do it, for they were the arrantest apes in their religion I have ever read of.” Why his indignation is so much excited is not clear, but probably it is because Agues (being watery diseases) were under the moon, and therefore they should have dedicated a herb that cured agues to the Moon. However, he holds to the view that camomile is good for all agues, although it is an herb of the sun—who has nothing to do with such diseases, as a rule. Turner criticises Amatus Lusitanus with some shrewdness. This writer, who had apparently taken upon him to teach “Spanyardes, Italians, Frenchmen and Germans the name of Herbes in their tongues, writeth that Camomile is commonlye knowne,” and with this bald statement contented himself. “Wherefore it is lykely he knoweth nether of both [kinds of Camomile]. Wherefore he had done better to have sayde, ‘I do knowe nether of both, then thus shortly to passe by them.’ Camomile is still officinal, and is used for fomentations. ‘If taken internally it should be infused with cold water, as heat dissipates the oil.’”

Feverfewis so nearly related to camomile that it may be mentioned here. Indeed some writers call it “a Wild Camomile,” and give itMatricaria Parthenumfor a Latin name. Most botanists, however, place it “in the genusPyrethrum.” Mr Britten calls itPyrethrum Parthenium. “Feverfew” comes from “febrifuge,” for it was supposed to have wonderful power to drive away fevers and agues; and it is still a favourite remedy with village people. Nora Hopper brings it in among thefairies:—

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