OF SUNDRY HERBS 133 



Only an exceptionally dense person is insensible to the 

 joy of walking over acres of thyme on the Surrey hills in 

 midsummer, when the bees in thousands are robbing the 

 thyme of its honey. Amongst the Greeks thyme was an 

 emblem of courage, and the very name of the herb signifies 

 courage. The Romans gave it as a remedy for melancholy, 

 and in this country the aromatic thyme tea was always 

 administered to sickly persons to revive and refresh them. 

 In Lancastrian days ladies frequently embroidered a bee 

 hovering over thyme on the scarves they gave their knights. 

 All the varieties of thyme should be grown in a herb garden. 

 The lemon-scented variety is the most delicious, and it is 

 the hardiest. In an old description of the gardens at 

 Deepdene near Dorking, one reads : " There are twenty-one 

 sorts of thyme in the garden which may seem a second 

 Eden where under heaven can be a sweeter place ? " Like 

 violets, thyme will only grow in a pure atmosphere, and 

 " they joy to be placed in a sunny and open place." There 

 are, perhaps, no more health-giving herbal drinks than the 

 old sage and balm and thyme teas, and they should be 

 taken all through the spring and summer. Thyme is 

 exceptionally good for people with weak lungs. 



THYME TEA. On two large handfuls of the leaves pour a 

 pint and a half of boiling water. 



TO ENABLE ONE TO SEE THE FAIRIES. A pint of sallet 



oyle and put it into a vial glasse; and first wash it with 

 rose-water and marygolde water ; the flowers to be gathered 

 towards the east. Wash it till the oyle becomes white, 

 then put into the glasse, and then put thereto the budds 

 of hollyhocke, the flowers of marygolde, the flowers or 

 toppes of wild thyme, the budds of young hazle, and the 

 thyme must be gathered neare the side of a hill where fairies 

 use to be ; and take the grasse of a fairy throne ; then all 

 these put into the oyle in the glasse and sette it to dissolve 

 three dayes in the sunne and then keep it for the use. 

 Receipt dated 1600, 



