460 pPaat "bore, hegei^/, ani. Isijric/'. 



wildly about with a bunch of Nettles, striking at the face and hands 

 of their companions or of such other persons as they fancy they may 



venture to assault with impunity. The Roman Nettle [Uvticapilu- 



lifera) is the most venomous of British Nettles, and is found abun- 

 dantly about Romney, in Kent, where, according to Camden, the 

 Roman soldiers brought the seed with them, and sowed it for their own 

 use, to rub and chafe their limbs when, through extreme cold, they 

 should be stiff and benumbed ; having been told before they came 

 from home that the climate of England was so cold that it was not 

 to be endured without having recourse to some fri(5lion to warm their 



blood and to stir up natural heat. Among the various remedies 



once prescribed for the " trembling fever," or ague, by Catherine 

 Oswald, a noted herbalist, was one which related to plucking up a 

 Nettle by the root three successive mornings before sunrise. In 

 bygone times. Nettle and Milfoil carried about the person used to 

 be believed to drive away fear, and to be a certain charm against 



malignant spirits. The Scotch say that to cure the sting of a 



Nettle, the person stung must rub the leaves of a Dock over the 

 part affected, repeating at the same time : " Nettle in. Dock out ; 

 Dock rub Nettle out." This charm was known to Chaucer, who 

 uses it as a common saying, implying lovers' inconstancy, in 

 ' Troilus and Cresside ' : — 



" But canst thou play en racket to and fro, 



Nettle in, Dock out, now this, now that, Pandure?" 



In German mythology, the Nettle was consecrated to the god Thor. 



In the Tyrol, during thunderstorms, the mountaineers throw 



Nettles on the fire to avert danger, and more especially to guard 

 themselves from lightning ; this custom also prevails in some parts 



of Italy. In Germany, there exists a superstition that Nettles 



gathered before sunrise will drive away evil spirits from cattle. 



The god Thor was, among the ancient Germans, regarded as 



the guardian deity of marriage ; hence it is, perhaps, that in Ger- 

 many Nettle-seed is believed to excite the passions and to facilitate 

 births. In dream lore, to fancy you are stung by Nettles indi- 

 cates vexation and disappointment ; to dream of gathering Nettles 

 denotes that someone has formed a favourable opinion of you ; 

 and if the dreamer be married, then that the domestic circle will be 



blessed with concord and harmony. Astrologers place Nettles 



under the dominion of Mars. 



NIGHTSHADE.— The Deadly Nightshade {Atropa Bella- 

 donna), or Death's Herb, is a plant of ill omen, and one of which 

 witches are reported to be fond: it is so poisonous in its nature, 

 that Gerarde says: " If you will follow my counsell, deale not with 

 the same in any case, and banish it from your gardens, and the 

 use of it also, being a plant so furious and deadly; for it bringeth 

 such as have eaten thereof into a dead sleepe, wherein many have 

 died." Buchanan relates that the Scots, under Macbeth, being 



