AND ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 73 



pleased to make use of her herb boiled in \ plied warm outwardly to the places, helps 

 white wine, and drink the decoction ; it j the wind and cholic in the lower part of 

 cleanses the womb, expels the after-birth, the belly. It is an especial remedy against 

 and doth a woman all the good she can j opium taken too liberally, 

 desire of an herb. And if any grumble \ 



i i i , xJbJNJNJbli* 



because they cannot get the herb m winter, ; 



tell them, if they please, they may make j EVERY garden affords this so plenti- 



a syrup of it in summer ; it is chiefly used | fully, that it needs no description. 



for the disease of the mother, whether it be j Government and virtues."] One good old 



the strangling or rising of the mother, or > fashion is not yet left off, viz. to boil Fennel 



hardness, or inflammation of the same, | with fish ; for it consumes that phlegmatic 



applied outwardly thereunto. Or a decoc- 1 humour, which fish most plentifully afford 



tion of the flowers in wine, with a little Nut- | and annoy the body with, though few that 



meg or Mace put therein, and drank often in j use it know wherefore they do it; I suppose 



a day, is an approved remedy to bring! the reason of its benefit this way is, because 



it is an herb of Mercury, and under Virgo, 

 and therefore bears antipathy to Pisces. 

 Fennel is good to break wind, to provoke 



down women's courses speedily, and helps 



to expel the dead birth and after-birth. 



For a woman to sit over the hot fumes of 



the decoction of the herb made in water or * urine, and ease the pains of the stone, and 



wine, is effectual for the same; and in some helps to break it. The leaves or seed, 



cases to apply the boiled herb warm to the j boiled in barley water and drank are good 



privy parts. The decoction thereof made, \ for nurses, to increase their milk, and make 



with some sugar, or honey put thereto, is " 



used by many with good success to help 



the cough and stuffing of the chest, by 



colds, as also to cleanse the reins and 

 bladder, and helps to expel the stone in 

 them. The powder of the herb taken in 

 wine, with some Oxymel, purges both cho- 

 ler and phlegm, and is available for those 

 that are short winded, and are troubled with 

 melancholy and heaviness, or sadness of 



it more wholesome for the child. The 

 leaves, or rather the seeds, boiled in water, 

 stays the hiccough, and takes away the 

 loathings Avhich oftentimes happen to the 

 stomachs of sick and feverish persons, and 

 allays the heat thereof. The seed boiled in 

 wine and drank, is good for those that are 

 bitten with serpents, or have eaten poison- 

 ous herbs, or mushrooms. The seed, and 

 the roots much more, help to open obstruc- 



spirits. It is very effectual for all pains in j tions of the liver, spleen, and gall, and 

 the head coming of a cold cause, the herb ! thereby help the painful and windy swel- 

 being bruised and applied to the crown of i lings of the spleen, and the yellow jaundice; 

 the head : As also for the vertigo, that is a j as also the gout and cramps. The seed is 

 junning or swimming in the head. The | of good use in medicines to help shortness 

 decoction thereof drank warm, and the ; of breath and wheezing by stopping of the 

 herb bruised with a few corns of Bay salt, > lungs. It helps also to bring down the 

 and applied to *he wrists before the coming | courses, and to cleanse the parts after 

 of the ague fits, doth take them away. The \ delivery. The roots are of most use in 

 distilled water takes away freckles, and j physic drinks, and broth that are taken to 

 other spots and deformities in the face. cleanse the blood, to open obstructions of 

 The herb bruised and heated on a tile, with \ the liver, so provoke urine, and amend the 

 some wine to moisten it, or fried with a Jill colour in the face after sickness, and to 

 little wine and oil in a frying-pan, and ap- cause a good habit through the body. 



