323 FLORA HISTORIC.!. 



Dr. Turner wrote at considerable length, in the 

 time of Queen Elizabeth, to expose these imposi- 

 tions : he says, " I haue in my tyme at diuerse 

 tymes taken vp the rootes of Mandrag out of the 

 grounde, but I neuer saw any such thyng vpon or 

 in them, as are in and vpon the pedlers rootes that 

 are comenly to be solde in boxes." He adds, " it 

 groweth not vnder gallosses, as a certayn dotyng 

 doctor of Colon in hys physik lecture dyd tech hys 

 auditores, neither doth it ryse of the sede of man, 

 that falleth from him that is hanged." 



Gerard also wrote on this plant, about thirty 

 years later than Turner ; and this excellent old 

 writer endeavoured to convince the people of the 

 impositions practised on them by the venders of 

 these roots. He states that both himself and his 

 servant had frequently dug up these roots without 

 receiving harm, or hearing any of the shrieks which 

 it was pretended these roots sent forth. 



Our immortal bard availed himself of these 



superstitions to work on the imagination of his 



admirers : 



And shrieks like Mandrakes, torn out of the earth, 

 That living mortals, hearing them, run mad. 



Again he says, — 



Would curses kill, as doth the Mandrake's groan, 

 I would invent as bitter-searching terms, 

 As curst, as harsh, and horrible to bear. 



Lord Bacon notices the use to which these roots 



