150 THE OLD ENGLISH HERBALS 



senses in nosegayes and in the windowes of houses, as also in 

 sweete ponders, sweete bags, and sweete washing waters." Of 

 all the varieties of thyme and hyssop— and of the white hyssop 

 he writes that its striped leaves " make it delightfull to most 

 Gentlewomen." Hyssop, he tells us further, " is used of many 

 people in the Country to be laid unto cuts or fresh wounds, 

 being bruised, and applyed eyther alone, or with a little sugar." 

 " And thus," he concludes this part of the book, " have I led 

 you through all my Garden of Pleasure, and shewed you all 

 the varieties of nature housed therein, pointing unto them and 

 describing them one after another. And now lastly (according 

 to the use of our old ancient Fathers) I bring you to rest on the 

 Grasse, which yet shall not be without some delight, and that 

 not the least of all the rest." 



From his garden of pleasant flowers he leads us to the kitchen 

 garden, full not only of " vegetables " as we understand the 

 term, of strawberries, cucumbers and pompions, but also of a 

 vast number of herbs in daily use, many of them never seen in 

 modern gardens. Besides the famihar thyme, balm, savory, 

 mint, marjoram, and parsley, there are clary, costmary, penny- 

 royal, fennel, borage, bugloss, tansy, burnet, blessed thistle, 

 marigolds, arrach, rue, patience, angelica, chives, sorrel, smal- 

 lage, bloodwort, dill, chervil, succory, purslane, tarragon, rocket, 

 mustard, skirrets, rampion, liquorice and caraway. But 

 according to Parkinson they used fewer herbs in his day than 

 in olden times; for under pennyroyal we find, " The former age 

 of our great-grandfathers had all these pot herbes in much and 

 familiar use, both for their meates and medicines, and there- 

 with preserved themselves in long life and much health : but 

 this delicate age of ours, which is not pleased with anything 

 almost, be it meat or medicine, that is not pleasant to the palate, 

 doth wholly refuse these almost, and therefore cannot be par- 

 taker of the benefit of them." From the kitchen garden with 

 all these herbs, " of most necessary uses for the Country Gentle- 

 women's houses," he leads us, finally, to the orchard, with its 

 endless varieties of apple and pear trees, of cherries, medlars. 



