CENTURY V. 233 



that the part against which the sun beateth waxeth 

 more faint and flaccid in the stalk, and thereby less 

 able to support the flower. 



494. What a little moisture will do in vegetables, 

 even though they be dead and severed from the 

 earth, appeareth well in the experiment of jugglers. 

 They take the beard of an oat, which if you mark it 

 well, is wreathed at the bottom, and one smooth 

 entire straw at the top. They take only the part 

 that is wreathed, and cut off the other, leaving the 

 beard half the breadth of a finger in length. Then 

 they make a little cross of a quill, longways of that 

 part of the quill which hath the pith ; and cross-ways 

 of that piece of the quill without pith ; the whole 

 cross being the breadth of a finger high. Then they 

 prick the bottom where the pith is, and thereinto 

 they put the oaten beard, leaving half of it sticking 

 forth of the quill : then they take a little white box 

 of wood, to deceive men, as if somewhat in the box 

 did work the feat, in which, with a pin, they make a 

 little hole, enough to take the beard, but not to let 

 the cross sink down, but to stick. Then likewise, 

 by way of imposture, they make a question ; as, 

 Who is the fairest woman in company ? or, Who 

 hath a glove or a card ? and cause another to name 

 divers persons ; and upon every naming they stick 

 the cross in the box, having first put it towards their 

 mouth, as if they charmed it, and the cross stirreth 

 not ; but when they come to the person that they 

 would take, as they hold the cross to their mouth, 

 they touch the beard with the tip of their tongue 



