300 * woAD. [October, 



suggested themselves to me previous to the appearance of the 

 paper referred to, I having had the advantage of forming one of 

 that '^goodly company ^^ to whose notice the plant was intro- 

 duced by the uncertain light of a June twilight, as described by 

 Mr, Lees. 



There appears to me nothing so very surprising in the appear- 

 ance of the Woad at the My the Toot, near Tewkesbury, nor does 

 it seem necessary to introduce a deus ex machind in the shape of 

 a certain British god, ^'Teutates'' in order to account for the pre- 

 sence of the plant on that spot. It is rather a matter of surprise, 

 considering how largely the plant was cultivated in this country 

 as a blue dye, previous to the introduction of indigo, that it 

 should not be found more widely distributed over England than 

 is said to be the case. Perhaps, however, a closer and more 

 careful scrutiny of out-of-the-way fields and hedges may yet re- 

 veal a more extensive distribution of the Woad than is at pre- 

 sent recognized : in illustration of which I may add, that on 

 mentioning the subject to a very accomplished naturalist, the 

 Secretary of the Cotteswold Field Club, he informed me that a 

 botanist had pointed out the plant to him in considerable quan- 

 tity in a field on Churchdown Hill, near Gloucester. 



That it was used by the ancient Britons to stain their bodies 

 is shown by Pliny, whose words, as translated by quaint old Phi- 

 lemon Holland, will bear extraction : — " Certes I do find and 

 observe that there be forrein Nations who time out of mind have 

 been ever accustomed to annoint their bodies with the juice of 

 certain herbs, for to imbellish and beautifie them as they thought. 

 And verily in some of these barbarous countries ye shall have 

 the women paint their faces, some with this herbe and others 

 with that : yea and among the Dakes and Sarmatians, in Tran- 

 sylvania, Valachia, Tartaria, and those parts, the men also marke 

 their bodies with certain characters. But to go no farther than 

 into Gaule, there groweth an herb there like unto Plantain, and 

 they call it Glastum (Woad) ; with the juyce whereof the women 

 of Britain, as wel the married wives as yong maidens their daugh- 

 ters, anoint and dy their bodies all over, resembling by that tinc- 

 ture the color of Moores and Ethyopians : in which manner they 

 use at som.e solemne feasts and sacrifices to go all naked." 



This account clearly connects the use of Woad with occasions of 

 religious solemnity, and the name of the locality in question, the 



