CABBAGE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 49 



hater. Evelyn, in his " Acetaria " (1699), sa Y s > " 'Tis 

 scarce an hundred years since we first had Cabbages out 

 of Holland," in which statement he must be mistaken, 

 as Cabbage was commonly eaten all over England before 

 1633. (Johnson's Gerard's " Herbal," p. 313.) 



FIRST men ate Coles ere they had corn and flesh to eat ; 

 tofore the flood men ate apples, Coles and herbs, as beasts 

 eat grass and herbs. The stalks and leaves thereof grow 

 swifter than stalks and leaves of other herbs ; and the 

 overmost crop thereof is called thyme ; and the natural 

 virtue of this herb is namely in the crop thereof. The 

 herb breedeth thick blood and troubly and horrible smell. 

 And some Cole is summer Cole, and some is winter 

 Cole. The malice thereof is withdrawn if it be sod or 

 boiled in water, and that water thrown away, and the Cole 

 then sodden in other water with good fatness and savoury. 

 Leaves thereof, bruised and laid to two days, healeth 

 wounds of hounds both new and old, and that wonderly. 

 Cole withstandeth wine and drunkenness, and comforteth 

 the sinews. And the juice thereof helpeth against venom, 

 and also against biting of a wood hound ; and serpents 

 flee the smell of Cole sod. 



Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xvii. 1 14. 



[Gerard in his " Herbal " describes the following sorts of 

 Coleworts : Garden Colewort, curled garden Cole, red Colewort, 

 white Cabbage Cole, red Cabbage Cole, open Cabbage Cole, double 

 Colewort, double crisp or curled Colewort, cauliflower, swollen 

 Colewort (blue and curly), Savoy Cole, curled Savoy Cole, parsley 

 Colewort, and small-cut Colewort; and sea-Colewort (which may 

 be a wild sea-kale), and wild Colewort, grown for its seeds.] 



THE Colewort being eaten is good for them that have 

 dim eyes, and that are troubled with the shaking palsy. 

 The raw Colewort being eaten before meat doth preserve a 

 man from drunkenness ; the reason is yielded, for that 

 there is a natural enmity between it and the vine, which 

 is such, as if it grow near unto it, forthwith the vine 

 perisheth and withereth away ; yea, if wine be poured unto 

 it while it is in boiling, it will not be any more boiled, 

 and the colour thereof quite altered. The seed taketh 

 away freckles of the face and sun-burning. 



Gerard's " Herbal," bk. ii. ch. xl. 



