196 



SHAKESPEARE'S [MANOR AGORA. 



off and destroyeth swelling of the body, and withstandeth 

 venomous biting. They that dig Mandragora be busy to 

 beware of contrary winds, while they dig, and make three 

 circles about with a sv/ord, and abide with the digging 

 unto the sun going down, and trow so to have the herb 

 with the chief virtues. The juice thereof is gathered and 

 dried in the sun, the apples thereof be dried in the shadow. 



Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xvii. 104. 



. 



THERE hath been many ridiculous tales brought up o 

 this plant, whether of old wives, or of some runagate 

 surgeons or physic-mongers I know not. That it is never 

 or very seldom to be found growing naturally but under a 

 gallows, where the matter that hath fallen from a dead 

 body hath given it the shape of a man ; and the matter 

 of a woman the substance of a female plant. That he 

 who would take up a plant thereof must tie a dog there- 





