OF SUNDRY HERBS 41 



of a treatise written by Antonius Musa, physician to the 

 Emperor Augustus, on the virtues of this plant, which 

 apparently cured every ill which could befall one's head, 

 including nightmare. It was to be gathered " without use 

 of iron, and when thou have gathered it, shake the mould 

 till naught of it cleave thereon, and then dry it in the shade 

 very thoroughly, and with its roots altogether reduce it to 

 dust, then use it and taste of it when thou needest." Every 

 old herbalist was loud in its praises, and to-day any one can 

 prove for themselves the fact that betony certainly cures 

 a headache with surprising rapidity. In Italy they say, 

 " may you have as many virtues as betony," and " sell 

 your coat and buy betony/' is a well-known proverb amongst 

 the peasants. It is still one of the ingredients in herbal 

 snuffs, but even if you do not make use of its virtues, you 

 should have betony in your herb garden, for then no evil 

 spirits nor witches will come near you ! Gerard tells us 

 that he found the white-flowered betony " in a wood by a 

 village called Hampsteed, near unto a worshipfull gentle- 

 man's house, one of the Clarks of the Queen's Counsell, 

 called Master Wade, from whence I brought plants for my 

 garden, where they flowered as in their natural place of 

 growing." 



Though betony grows naturally in shady places, it does 

 equally well in full sunshine, and it loves a bank. 



CONSERVE OF BETONY, AFTER THE ITALIAN WAY. Betony 

 new and tender one pound, the best sugar three pound, 

 beat them very small in a stone mortar, let the sugar be 

 boyled with two quarts of betony water to the consistency 

 of a syrup, then mix them together by little and little over 

 a small Fire, and so make it into a Conserve and keep it in 

 Glasses. The Queen's Closet Opened, by W. M., Cook to 

 Queen Henrietta Maria, 1655. 



BETONY TEA. Put two ounces of the herb (flowers and 

 leaves) into two quarts of water, and simmer to three half- 

 pints. 



