viii PREFACE 



common ailments, but it is undoubtedly the moderate-sized 

 garden which is the most attractive. This little book only 

 deals with the few well-known English wild and garden 

 herbs which every one can grow and use. 



No mention is made of the purely medicinal uses of herbs, 

 the receipts being merely for the excellent old herbal teas, 

 the syrups and conserves, the herbal drinks and home-made 

 wines, the candied flowers and leaves, the sweet waters, 

 washing-balls, pomanders, etc., which our great-grand- 

 mothers were so skilful in preparing. I have included just 

 a few recipes, which are, alas, of no use, in our sadly unimagi- 

 native age ! One of these will be found under the heading 

 " Thyme " : "To enable one to see the Fairies," and I can 

 only trust it will not fall under the eye of any severely 

 practical person, but as William Coles says of some of the 

 things in his Art of Simpling : "if there be any that are not 

 true yet they are pleasant." 



NOTE. I should like to thank Miss Canziani and Miss 

 Alice Smail for their kind help in copying the plans for me. 



E. S. R. 



