Thistles and Nettles 333 



for your pains," etc. They were written by Aaron 

 Hill on a window in Scotland. Their thought is 

 more tersely expressed in the old Devonshire say- 

 ing: "He that handles a nettle tenderly is soonest 

 stung," meaning that politeness is wasted on some 

 people. For the physical sting of the vegetable 

 nettle the dock-leaf is a remedy, whence the old 

 adage, " Nettle out, dock in, dock remove the net- 

 tle sting." In old-folk medicine nettle-tea was a 

 remedy for nettle-rash, a kind of foreshadowing of 

 the coming doctrine that " similia similibus curan- 

 tur." Carried about on the person, the nettle was 

 supposed to drive away fear, and on this account 

 it was frequently worn in time of danger. " In 

 the Tyrol, during a thunder-storm," says Thistle- 

 ton Dyer, " the mountaineers throw nettles on the 

 fire to protect themselves from lightning, and the 

 same safeguard is practised in Italy." Well might 

 this be a potent weed, for it is own cousin to the 

 famous and fatal upas tree of Eastern story. 



The thistle, companion of the nettle in vaga- 

 bondage and in public execration (Fig. 94), is like- 

 wise deserving of a better fate and of a higher 

 place in popular estimation. For it has been re- 

 nowned in legend and wonder-lore, and has more- 

 over played no mean part in authentic history. 



