178 THE OLD ENGLISH HERBALS 



There is a " Receipt for Convulsion Fitts " from Sir Edward 

 Greaves (the first physician to be created a baronet) consisting 

 of peony roots, dead man's skull, hoofs of asses, white amber 

 and bezoar; and the famous Dr. Sydenham contributed a 

 ** Prescription for the head " in which, not content with the 

 seventy-two ingredients of which Venice treacle consisted, he 

 added Wormwood, orange peel, angelica and nutmeg. Another 

 distinguished contributor to this MS. was the ill-fated Duke of 

 Monmouth. A prescription for stone from Judge Ellis con- 

 sisted of Venice turpentine distilled with various herbs and 

 spices in small ale. It was to be made only in June and taken 

 *' three days before the full and three days before the change of 

 the Moone " (incidentally a survival of Saxon moon lore), but 

 the Duke of Monmouth's prescription for the same complaint 

 is quite different and is compounded of ripe haws and fennel 

 roots distilled in white wine and taken with syrup of elder. 

 Lady Sedley, the first owner, and presumaby author of the 

 book, was the wife of Sir Charles Sedley, one of Charles IL's 

 intimate friends and notorious for his mad pranks. Between 

 her husband and her daughter her life must have been almost 

 unbearable, and it is not surprising that the unfortunate woman 

 ended her days in a mad-house. 



Of the MS. still-room books in the British Museum 

 undoubtedly the most interesting is Mary Doggett : Her 

 Book of Receipts, 1682.^ On the first page is affixed a note : 

 ** This Mary Doggett was the wife of Doggett the Player who 

 left a legacy of a yearly coat and badge to be rowed for." ^ 

 The MS. is beautifully written and contains an astonishing 

 amount of information on every housewifely art, from washing 

 " parti-coloured stockings " to making perfumes and '' Sweete 

 Baggs." Indeed the reading of the headlines alone gives one 

 some idea of the multifarious duties of a mistress of a large 



1 Sloane 27466. 



2 The competition for " Doggett's Coat and badge " amongst Thames 

 Watermen still takes place every August. 



