334 FOXGLOVE. 



it is sometimes called Gcmtelee, and Gants de Noire Dame, our 

 Lady's gloves, viz. the Virgin. The English is the only lan- 

 guage in which it is designated Foxs-glove; hence some have 

 surmised that the proper orthography is Folks-glove, while Sir 

 J. Smith expresses an opinion that it was originally called 

 Ftichs' -glove. It is surprising that a plant so beautiful, and 

 sufficiently striking to be introduced by painters in their land- 

 scapes, should not be alluded to by any of our old English 

 poets, not even by Shakspeare, in whose time it was by no 

 means uncommon, as appears from Gerard's Herbal, published 

 in 1597. Some indeed have supposed it to be 



" ■ long purples, 



That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, 



But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them,"* 



mentioned by the qvieen when relating the manner of Ophelia's 

 death, but from the connection of the passage we cannot ac- 

 quiesce in such an opinion -j". 



Qualities. — The recent herb is inodorous, but when dried 

 exhales a slightly narcotic odour, and is bitter and nauseous to 

 the taste, accompanied with a kind of acrimony, which at first 

 excites the flow of saliva, subsequently producing a dryness in 

 the mouth, and an acrid sensation in the throat. These quali- 

 ties are more or less energetic, according to the season % in 

 which the plant is gathered and the locality in which it grows. 

 Both water and alcohol extract its virtues. The watery infu- 

 sion has a pale olive-green colour, with the unpleasant odour 

 and taste of the plant. It does not precipitate solutions of galls, 

 and sulphate of iron only renders it of a darker colour ; but it 



* Hamlet, act iv. so. 7* 



■\ The plant thus referred to, is generally supposed to be a species of 

 Orchis, either the Orchis mascula or latifolia. Malone observes, " one of 

 the grosser names Gertrude had particular reason to avoid : — the rampant 

 widow.'''' 



+ For medicinal purposes the leaves should be gathered when the plant 

 is in full flower, and those of the second year which are completely deve- 

 loped and unwithered should be selected ; those plants being preferred 

 which grow in dry sunny localities. The stalk and midrib should be re- 

 jected, and the remaining part dried either in the sun or before a moderate 

 fire, then reduced to powder, and kept in phials closely stopped and covered 

 with black paper. The test of the goodness of the dried leaf is its beautiful 

 green colour. 



