188 OUR ROCK-GARDEN 



lessly damaged several in the attempt to do so, so 

 that when we have once safely transplanted it, it 

 should not, without weighty reason, be shifted again. 

 Like most other things, the bryony was held by our 

 forefathers in esteem as a remedy " those that have 

 the dropsie, the falling sickenesse, and dizzinesse of 

 the brain, that is long continued and hardly to be 

 remoued," looking to it for relief. Pechey, in his 

 "Compleat Herbal," 1694, advises to "take what 

 quantity of the Rootes of red beried Briony you 

 please, slice them and press out the Juice : this 

 being kept in Vessels unmov'd will in a few hours 

 deposit the Lees, which being separated by pouring 

 the Water away gently, must be dried in a glass 

 vessell. They are used in a Dropsie.' 7 Great 

 caution is necessary in using the root : deaths have 

 been several times recorded in the medical books 

 from its employment by village herbalists. The 

 French call the plant the navet du Diable, which 

 sufficiently testifies to their belief in its violent and 

 dangerous properties. 



Mizaldus, a very venerable author, appeals to 

 those who would " beautifie the chynne with fine 

 heaire " to " take butter without salt, the iuyce of 

 a redde onion, the grease of a Badger, the rootes of 

 Briony, of Beetes, of Radysh, and of whyte Lyllies." 

 These various ingredients they are to make into a 

 " Lynyment, and annoy nt the chyn often therewith, 

 being shauen." In a popular book, the " Toilet of 



