162 - PLANTS AND PLANETS. (CHAP. X. 
This I am confident, for I have tried it, that if we 
mar the very apple of their eyes with a needle, she 
will recover them again; but whether with this herb 
or not I know not.” After this confession of wanton 
cruelty we will give but one more selection from this 
barbarous old astrologer-herbalist. It refers to the 
Devil’s Bit Scabious :— 
“This root was longer, until the Devil (as the 
friars say) bit away the rest of it from spite, envying 
its usefulness to mankind; for sure he was not 
troubled with any disease for which it is proper.” 
