"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 177 



hath seed, but that was also the opinion of a Chris- 

 tian physician named Hieronymus Tragus, who doth 

 not only say that the fern hath seed, but writeth 

 that he found upon Midsummer Even seed upon 

 brakes. 1 Although all they that have written of 

 herbs have affirmed and holden that the brake doth 

 neither seed nor fruit, yet have I divers times proved 

 the contrary, which thing I will testify here in this 

 place for their sakes that be students of herbs. I 

 have, four years together, one after another, upon 

 the Vigil of St. John the Baptist, which we call in 

 English Midsummer Even, sought for this seed of 

 brakes upon the night; and, indeed, I found it early 

 in the morning before day-break. The seed was 

 small, black, and like unto poppy. I went about 

 this business all figures, conjurings, saunters, charms, 

 witchcraft, sorceries, taking with me two or three 

 honest men. When I sought this seed all the vil- 

 lage about did shine with bonfires that the people 

 made there; and sometime when I sought the seed 

 I found it, and sometimes I found it not. Some- 

 time I found much and sometime I found little ; but 

 what should be the cause of this diversitie, or what 

 Nature meaneth in this thing, surely I cannot tell." 

 HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera per folium}. De- 



1 Brake, or bracken, fern. 



