JOHN PARKINSON 159 



into a cup that is made of ivie wood and if there be any water 

 therein it will remaine in the cup and the wine will soak through, 

 for the nature of Ivie is not to hold any wine so great an anti- 

 pathy there is between them." That skilful shepherds are 

 careful not to let their flocks feed in pastures where mouseare 

 abounds, " lest they grow sicke and leane and die quickly after." 

 That writing-ink can be made of the green fruit of alder trees. 

 That the bark of the same tree is useful for making " a blacke 

 dye for the courser sorts of things," and that the leaves put 

 under the bare feet of travellers are " a great refreshing unto 

 them." That the rose of Jericho opened the night our Saviour 

 was born, and that placed in any house it will open when a child 

 is born. That mouseare if given to any horse " will cause that 

 he shall not be hurt by the Smith that shooeth him." That 

 purslane is not only a sovereign remedy for crick in the neck, 

 but also for " blastings by lightening, or planets and for burn- 

 ings by Gunpowder or otherwise." That country folk in Kent 

 and Sussex call sopewort " Gill-run-by-the-streete." That 

 agrimony leaves will cure cattle suffering from coughs, and that 

 wounded deer use this same herb to heal their hurts. That a 

 decoction made of hemp will draw earthworms out of their 

 holes and that fishermen thus obtain their bait. That crops of 

 woad may be cut three times in the year, and that dyers' weed 

 will change to green any cloth or silk first dyed blue with woad, 

 " and for these uses there is great store of this herbe spent in 

 ah* countries and thereof many fields are sowen for the purpose." 

 That country-folk use goose-grass as a strainer " to clear their 

 milke from strawes, haires, and any other thing that falleth into 

 it." That St. John's wort is used by country-folk to drive 

 away devils. That " Clownes woundwort " owes its name to 

 a labourer who healed himself therewith of a cut with a scythe 

 in his leg. That willow-herb, being burned, " driveth away 

 flies and gnats and other such like small creatures which use 

 in diverse places that are neere to Fennes, marsh or water 

 sides to infest them that dwell there in the night season to sting 



