THE FUMITORY., 89 



In feld, in town, in yard, et gate, 



Yer [where] lond is fat and good in state, 



Dun red is his flour, 



Ye erbe smek [smoke] lik in colowur [colour] ; 



Ageyn feuerys cotidian, 



And ageyn feuerys tertyen, 



And agey feuerys quartey, 



It is medicy soueregn. 



Ye fyrste ix dayis of May, 



Zif it be dronkyn day be day, 



Be it child, woman or man 



Yt zese y e feurys nozt meche schall han, 



It drywyth awey foule nutrures, 



And distroith ye morphe: [Morphew, sunburn ?] 



And disposing to ye lepre." 



But these are, by no means, all the medicinal pro- 

 perties with which it was formerly supposed to be 

 endowed. Great was its value as an anti-scorbutic, 

 for which purpose the expressed juice was sold in 

 the shops, while it was no less beneficial, in the 

 language of the period, " for all obstructions of the 

 viscera;" so that Burton, in his "Anatomy of Me- 

 lancholy," speaks of it as a plant " not to be omitted 

 by those who are mis-affected with melancholy, be- 

 cause it will much help and ease the spleen." 



Sir John Hill, in his "Herbal," recommends 

 the leaves of fumitory to be smoked as a remedy 

 for " disorders of the head ;" and in more modern 

 days the late Dr. Cullen, who paid great atten- 

 tion to the qualities of our native plants, recom- 

 mended a decoction of fumitory in affections of 

 the liver. His recommendation, which might almost 

 be supposed to be based on the injunction of old 

 Tusser, 



