16 THE COMPLETE HERBAL 
a 
syrup made with the juice of it and sugar 
(as you shall be taught at the latter end of 
this book) be kept in every gentlewoman’s 
house to relieye the weak stomachs and sick 
bodies of their poor sickly neighbours; as 
also the herb kept dry in the house, that so 
with other convenient simples, you may 
make it into an electuary with honey, ac- 
cording as the disease is you shall be taught 
at the latter end of my book. The Arabian 
physicians have extolled the virtues thereof 
to the skies; although the Greeks thought 
it not worth mentioning. Seraphio says, it 
causes the mind and heart to become merry, 
and revives the heart, faintings and swoon- 
ings, especially of such who are overtaken 
in sleep, and drives away all troublesome 
cares and thoughts out of the mind, arising 
from melancholy or black choler; which 
Avicen also confirms. It is very good to 
help digestion, and open obstructions of 
the brain, and hath so much purging qual- 
ity in it (saith Avicen) as to expel those 
melancholy vapours from the spirits and 
blood which are in the heart and arteries, 
although it cannot do so in other parts of 
the body. Dioscorides says, That the leaves 
steeped in wine, and the wine drank, and 
the leaves externally applied, is a remedy 
against the stings of a scorpion, and the 
bitings of mad dogs; and commends the 
decoction thereof for women to bathe or sit 
in to procure their courses; it is good to 
wash aching teeth therewith, and profitable 
for those that have the bloody-flux. The 
leaves also, with a little nitre taken in 
_ drink, are good against the surfeit of mush- 
rooms, helps the griping pains of the belly; 
and being made into an electuary, it is good 
for them that cannot fetch their breath: 
Used with salt, it takes away wens, kernels, 
or hard swellings in the flesh or throat; it 
_ cleanses foul sores, and eases pains of the 
_ gout. It is good for the liver and spleen. 
sf _ A tansy or caudle made with eggs, and juice 
OP aiteneneaons 
sugar and rosewater, is good for a woman — 
in child-bed, when the after-birth is not 
thoroughly voided, and for their faintings — 
upon or in their sore travel. The herb— 
bruised and boiled in a little wine and oil, - 
and laid warm on a boil, will ripen it, and 
break it. 
BARBERRY. 
Tue shrub is so well known by every boy — 
and girl that has but attained to the age 
of seven years, that it needs no description. — 
Government and virtues.| Mars owns the — 
shrub, and presents it to the use of my 
countrymen to purge their bodies of choler. — 
The inner rind of the Barberry-tree boiled 
in white wine, and a quarter of a pint drank — 
each morning, is, an excellent remedy to 
cleanse the body of choloric humours, and — 
free it from such diseases as choler causes, — 
such as scabs, itch, tetters, ringworms, yel- 
low jaundice, boils, &c. It is excellent for 
hot agues, burnings, scaldings, heat of the — 
blood, heat of the liver, bloody flux; for 
the berries are as good as the bark, and 
more pleasing: they get a man a good stom- — 
ach to his victuals, by strengthening the — 
attractive faculty which is under Mars. The — 
hair washed with the lye made of the tree — 
and water, will make it turn yellow, viz. of : 
Mars’ own colour. The fruit and rind of — 
the shrub, the flowers of broom and of — 
heath, or furz, cleanse the body of choler — 
by sympathy, as the flowers, leaves, and — 
bark of the peach-tree do by antipathy; — 
because these are under Mars, that under — 
Venus. : 
BARLEY. 
Tue continual usefulness hereof hath 
made all in general so acquainted herewith, — 
that it is altogether needless to describe it, 
several kinds hereof plentifully growing, 
being yearly sown in this land. The virtues 
thereof take as follow. 
Government and virtues.| It is a notable 
pst of Saturn: if you view diligently : 
