42 



The Earlier English Herbals 



[ch. 



The conclusion of the whole matter, which is set forth 

 immediately before the index, is in these words : 



" O ye worthy reders or practicyens to whome this 

 noble volume is present I beseche yow take intellygence 

 and beholde ye workes and operacyons of almyghty god 

 which hath endewed his symple creature mankynde with 

 the graces of ye holy goost to have parfyte knowlege and 

 understandynge of the vertue of all maner of herbes and 

 trees in this booke comprehendyd." 



Text-fig. 20. "Yvery" = Ivory [The Grete Herball, 



1529]. 



From a twentieth-century point of view, the Grete 

 Herball contains much that is curious, especially in relation 

 to medical matters. Bathing was evidently regarded as a 

 strange fad. We learn, on the authority of Galen, that 

 " many folke that hath bathed them in colde wa[ter] have 

 dyed or they came home." Water drinking seems to have 

 been thought almost equally pernicious, for we are told, 

 "mayster Isaac sayth that it is unpossyble for them that 

 drynketh overmoche water in theyr youth to come to ye 

 aege that god ordeyned them." A period when men were 



