JOHN PARKINSON 155 



or roots of Acorus tyed to a hive of Bees stayeth them from 

 wandering or flying away and draweth a greater resort of others 

 thereto." 1 



Upon the use of herbs as amulets his views seem incon- 

 sistent. He is scornful of the custom of hanging a piece of 

 mistletoe to children's necks " against witchcraft and the illusion 

 of Sathan " ; yet he gravely informs us that " if the sope that 

 is made of the lye of the ashes [of glassewort] be spread upon 

 a piece of thicke course brown paper cut into the forme of 

 their shooe sole, that are casually taken speechless and bound to 

 the soles of their feete it will bring again the speech and that 

 within a little time after the applying thereof if there be any 

 hope of being restored while they live : this hath been tried 

 to be effectuall upon diverse persons. 2 The custom of wearing 

 meadowsweet or hanging it up in living-rooms 3 he describes as a 

 " superstitious conceit," but he accepts without demur the 

 tradition 4 that a wreath of periwinkle " worne about the legs 

 defendeth them that wear it from the crampe." Bartholomaeus 

 Anglicus tells us that Augustus Caesar used to wear a wreath of 

 bryony during a thunderstorm to protect himself from light- 

 ning, but the story is not repeated until, after the lapse of 

 four hundred years, we find in Parkinson the statement that 

 " Augustus Caesar was wont to weare bryony with bayes made 

 into a roule or garlande thereby to be secured from lightening." 5 

 Parkinson regards the use of herbs against witchcraft as sheer 

 foolishness, but he is the only herbalist who gives us a potion 6 

 which " resist eth such charmes or the like witchery that is 

 used in such drinkes that are given to produce love." Like 

 Gerard, he does not question the efficacy of borage, bugloss and 



1 Theatrum Botanicum., p. 144. 2 Ibid., p. 281. 



3 Ibid., p. 265. * Ibid., p. 384. 5 Ibid., p. 181. 



6 Ibid., p. 422. Of this " Indian Spanish Counter poyson " Parkinson 

 gives us the further interesting information that " the Indians doe not eate 

 the bodies of those they have slaine by their poysoned arrowes untill they 

 have lyen three or foure dayes with their wounds washed with the juice of 

 this herbe; which rendereth them tender and fit to be eaten which before 

 were hard." 



