HENBANE 199 



the objectors err. The plant is a very quaint and 

 interesting one, interfering with no one who has the 

 sense to let it alone. Those, needing a nurse or a 

 keeper, who fear they could not refrain from eating 

 its seeds or shredding up its leaves for a salad, will 

 do well to keep clear of it, but we others who can 

 enjoy its beauty need not surely be debarred from 

 this enjoyment. 



A like objection its poisonous nature may be 

 taken to the henbane, yet it is a plant so marked 

 in individuality that we have always welcomed it 

 in our garden. The double rows of dull yellow 

 flowers, veined with purple, that line the stem in 

 such profusion, and the great enlargement of the 

 calyx after flowering is over, are very interesting 

 points. It is a strong narcotic. 1 



Lupton, in his " Thousand Notable Things," 

 : 595> highly commends " the roote of Henbane 

 stampt and applyed warme to the payne of the 

 Goute of the feete. It is sayde that it helpes 

 maruelouslie because this herbe belonges to Jupiter, 



1 u Here henbane, poppy, hemloc here, 



Procuring deadly sleeping, 

 Which I do minister with fear, 

 Not fit for each man's keeping." 



The lines are from the " Muse's Elysium " of Drayton. 

 They suggest the idea that the person speaking was that 

 dangerous person, one who meddles with what he does not 

 understand : into whose hands no one would knowingly 

 trust themselves, 



