18 



THE COMPLETE HERBAL 



of Venus in one kind, so it spoils all her ac- 

 tions in another. I dare write no more of it. 



THE BAY TREE. 



THIS is so well known that it needs no 

 description : I shall therefore only write 

 the virtues thereof, which are many. 



Government and virtues J\ I shall but only 

 add a word or two to what my friend has 

 written, viz., that it is a tree of the sun, and 

 under the celestial sign Leo, and resists 

 witchcraft very potently, as also all the evils 

 old Saturn can do to the body of man, and 

 they are not a few ; for it is the speech of 

 one, and I am mistaken if it were not 

 Mizaldus, that neither witch nor devil, 

 thunder nor lightning, will hurt a man in 

 the place where a Bay-tree is. Galen said, 

 that the leaves or bark do dry and heal 

 very much, and the berries more than the 

 leaves ; the bark of the root is less sharp 

 and hot, but more bitter, and hath some 

 astriction withal whereby it is effectual to 

 break the stone, and good to open obstruc- 

 tions of the liver, spleen, and other inward 

 parts, which bring the jaundice, dropsy, 

 &c. The berries are very effectual against 

 all poison of venomous creatures, and the 

 sting of wasps and bees ; as also against the 

 pestilence, or other infectious diseases, and 

 therefore put into sundry treacles for that 

 purpose ; they likewise procure women's 

 courses, and seven of them given to wo- 

 man in sore travail of child-birth, do cause 

 a speedy delivery, and expel the after-birth, 

 and therefore not to betaken by such as have 

 not gone out their time, lest they procure 

 abortion, or cause labour too soon. They 

 wonderfully help all cold and rheumatic 

 distillations from the brain to the eyes, 

 lungs or other parts ; and being made into 

 an electuary with honey, do help the con- 

 sumption, old coughs, shortness, of breath, 

 and thin rheums ; as also the megrim. They 

 mightily expel the wind, and provoke urine; 

 helps the mother, and kill the worms. The 



leaves also work the like effect. A bath of 

 the decoction of leaves and berries, is 

 singularly good for women to sit in, that 

 are troubledwith the mother, orthe diseases 

 thereof, or the stoppings of their courses, 

 or for the diseases of the bladder, pains in 

 the bowels by wind and stoppage of the 

 urine. A decoction likewise of equal parts 

 of Bay-berries, cummin seed, hyssop, ori- 

 ganum, and euphorbium, with some honey, 

 and the head bathed therewith, wonder- 

 fully helps distillations and rheums, and 

 settles the pallate of the mouth into its 

 place. The oil made of the berries is very 

 comfortable in all cold griefs of the joints, 

 nerves, arteries, stomach, belly, or womb, 

 and helps palsies, convulsions, cramp, 

 aches, tremblings, and numbness in any 

 part, weariness also, and pains that come 

 by sore travelling. All griefs and pains 

 proceeding from wind, either in the head, 

 stomach, back, belly, or womb, by anointing 

 the parts .affected therewith : And pains in 

 the ears are also cured by dropping in some 

 of the oil, or by receiving into the ears the 

 fume of the decoction of the berries through 

 a funnel. The oil takes away the marks of 

 the skin and flesh by bruises, falls, &c. and 

 dissolves the congealed blood in them. It 

 helps also the itch, scabs, and weals in 

 the skin. 



BEANS. 



BOTH the garden and field beans are so 

 well known, that it saves me the labour of 

 writing any description of them. The vir- 

 tues follow. 



Government and virtues.^ They are plants 

 of Venus, and the distilled water of the 

 flower of garden beans is good to clean the 

 face and skin from spots and wrinkles, and 

 the meal or flour of them, or the small beans 

 doth the same. The water distilled from 

 the green husk, is held to be very effectual 

 against the stone, and to provoke urine. 

 Bean flour is used in poultices to assuage 



