7he Ufefal Family Hcrhal. -231 



n I 



rower Leaves, called the Female : Their Virtues 

 are the fame, but the Male is generally preferred. 

 They are Natives of Italy, wliere they grow in 

 Woods, and on the Banks of Rivers : We keep 

 iheni in Gardens ; but they grow there as freely 



as if native.' 



The Mandrake has no Stalk. The Leaves rife 



immediately fron? the Root, and they are very 



large : They are a Foot long, four Inches broad 



in die Middle, and of a dufky green Colour, and 



bad Smell. The Flowers ftand upon Foot Stalks, 



of four Inches high, flender, and hairy, and rife- 



ing immediately from the Root : Thefe Flowers 



are large, of a dingy purplifh Colour, and of a 



very bad Smell. The Fruit which follows, is of 



the Bignefs and Shape of a fmall Apjple, or like a 



fmall Pear, according to the Male or Female Kind : 



This is yellow when ripe, and is alfo of a very 



bad Sniell. The Root is long and thick, it is 



largeft at the Head, and fmaller all the way down ; 



fometimes it is divided into two Parts, from the 



Middle downwards, if a Stone have Iain in the 



Way, or any other Accident occafioned it ; but 



ufually it is fingle. This is the Root, which is 



piftured to . be like the human Form ; it is 



when fingle, no more like a Man than a Carrot 



or a Parfnip is, and when by fome Accident it is 



divided, 'tis no more like, than any long Root, 



which happens to have met the fame Accident. 



Thofe Roots which are Ihown about for Money, 



,and have the Head, Limbs, arid Figure, of a 



human Form, are made fo by Art, and they fel- 



dom ufe the real Mandrake Root for_ that Pur- 



pofe : They are often made of white Briony Root, 



of Angelica. The People cut them 

 into this Shape, and put them into the Ground 

 a^^ain, where they will be fometimes in Part co- 

 vered with a new Bark, and fo look natural A" 



me 



Q. 



A 



