Mediceval Lore. 



hardiness- of- wicked men is chastised ; with dread 

 of iron. And well-nigh no handiwork is wrought 

 without iron; no field is eared without iron, 

 neither tilling craft used, nor building builded 

 without iron. And therefore Isidore saith that 

 iron hath its name ferrum, for that thereby farra 

 that is corn and seed, is tilled and sown. For 

 without iron bread is not won of the earth, nor 

 bread is not departed when it is ready without 

 iron convenably to man's use." 



The chapters on medicine, though extremely 

 interesting, are by no means so full or so curious 

 as those of many of the later writers Topseil, for 

 instance and Mr. Steele has contented himself 

 with but very few examples. The following will 

 commend itself to many : " The liver is a noble 

 and precious member, by whose alteration the body 

 is altered " ; but it may not be so well known that 

 " by the spleen we are moved to laugh, by the gall 

 we are wroth, by the heart we are wise-, by the 

 brain we feel, by the liver we love." The geo* 

 graphy, as may be imagined, is a curious medley 

 of fact and the wildest fiction. The descriptions 

 pf countries which were evidently known to the 

 author, suph as England, Scotland, France, and 

 the Low Countries, are eminently free from fable, 

 but no story was too wonderful for him when. told 

 of countries and peoples beyond his ken. His 

 description of England as a " strong land and 

 a .sturdy ". ia,r fortunately, true : to this day) and 

 this country is still in a sense (t the plenteousest 



