THE USE OF SIMPLES 23 



though the genuine old-fashioned race of herbalists 

 has died out, yet here and there in remote country 

 districts there is a lingering belief in the efficacy of 

 "harbs." Richard Jefferies relates that once he met 

 a labourer who was deeply depressed because of the 

 death of a son. The poor fellow had had every atten- 

 tion, but still he regretted one thing. There was a 

 herb, which grew in wet places and was known only 

 to a few, that was a certain cure for the kind of 

 wasting disease which had baffled the skill of the 

 doctor. There was an old man, said the rustic, living 

 somewhere by a river, fifty miles away, who possessed 

 the secret of this herb and by it had accomplished 

 marvellous cures. He had heard of him, but could 

 not by any inquiry find out his exact whereabouts; 

 and so his son died. Everything possible had been 

 done, but still he regretted that the herb had not been 

 applied. 



Some years ago there lived in a former parish of 

 the writer's a very old woman who in her younger 

 days had gained a livelihood by selling flowers in 

 a neighbouring town. Sometimes, too, at the right 

 season she would tramp the country for miles around 

 after watercresses and herbs. With regard to the 

 herbs it was difficult to get much information. The 

 old lady was very reticent on the subject. The names 

 of the herbs she would never mention, but she took 

 them, she said, to a shop at Portsmouth to a man 

 " she knowed." One day, when the old lady was ill, 

 she was in a more communicative mood. A strange 

 thing happened once ; she hardly liked to speak of it, 

 but it was true. She had been out all day in Bere 

 Forest after "harbs" twenty miles she had been 

 after 'em when coming home in the evening, not far 



