AND ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 
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to the eyes, nose, and teeth, being bruised 
green and bound thereto; or the forehead, 
temples, or the nape of the neck behind, 
bathed with the decoction of the dried herb. 
It also dries up the moisture of fistulous 
ulcers, or any other that are foul and 
spreading. 
RUSHES. 
A.tHouGcH there are many kinds of 
Rushes, yet I shall only here insist upon 
those which are best known, and- most 
medicinal; as the bulrushes, and other of 
the soft and smooth kinds, which grow so 
commonly in almost every part of this land, 
and are so generally noted, that I suppose 
it needless to trouble you with any descrip- 
tion of them: Briefly then take the virtues 
of them as follows: 
Government and virtues.| The seed of 
the soft Rushes, (saith Dioscorides and 
Galen, toasted, saith Pliny) being drank in 
wine and water, stays the lask and women’s 
courses, when they come down too abund- 
antly: but it causes head-ache; it provokes 
sleep likewise, but must be given with cau- 
tion. The root boiled in water, to the con- 
sumption of one third, helps the cough. 
Thus you see that conveniences have their 
_ inconveniencies, and virtue is seldom un- 
accompanied with some vices. What I have 
written concerning Rushes, is to satisfy my 
countrymen’s questions: Are our Rushes 
good for nothing? Yes, and as good let 
them alone as taken. There are remedies 
enough without them for any disease, and 
therefore as the proverb is, I care not a 
rush for them; or rather, they will do you 
as much good as if one had given you a 
Rush. 
RYE. 
__ Tus is so well known in all the counties 
_ of this land, and especially to the country- 
- people, who. feed much thereon, that if I 
did describe it, they would presently say, 
I might as well have spared that labour. 
Its virtue follows. 
Government and virtues.| Rye is more 
digesting than wheat; the bread and the 
leaven thereof ripens and breaks impost- 
humes, boils, and other swellings: The 
meal of Rye put between a double cloth, 
and moistened with a little vinegar, and 
heated in a pewter dish, set over a chafing 
dish of coals, and bound fast to the head 
while it is hot, doth much ease the continual 
pains of the head. Matthiolus saith, that 
the ashes of Rye straw put into water, and 
steeped therein a day and a night, and the 
chops of the hands or feet washed there- 
with, doth heal them. 
SAFFRON. 
Tue herb needs no description, it being 
known generally where it grows. 
Place.} It grows frequently at Walden 
in Essex, and in Cambridgeshire. 
Government and virtues.|] It is an herb 
of the Sun, and under the Lion, and there- 
fore you need not demand a reason why it 
strengthens the heart so exceedingly. Let 
not above ten grains be given at one time, 
for the Sun, which is the fountain of light, 
may dazzle the eyes, and make them blind; 
a cordial being taken in an immoderate 
quantity, hurts the heart instead of help- 
ing it. It quickens the brain, for the Sun 
is exalted in Aries, as he hath his house in 
Leo. It helps consumptions of the lungs, 
and difficulty of breathing. It is excellent 
in epidemical diseases, as pestilence, small- 
pox, and measles. It is a notable expul- 
sive medicine, and a notable remedy for the 
yellow jaundice. My opinion is, (but I 
have no author for it) that hermodactyls _ 
are nothing else but the roots of Saffron — 
dried ; and my reason is, that the roots of all — 
crocus, both white and yellow, purge 
phlega as hermodactyls do; and if | yo 
cae me 
