214 A TOUa EOTJND MI GASDEN. 



much used by the ancients : arrows were poisoned with it, 

 and wives and husbands, tired of each other's company, intro- 

 duced it into little delicate tempting dishes of all sorts. 



It appears, however, that it was but a vulgar poison, and 

 was seldom or never used by persons of rank; — something 

 like what arsenic is now; — arsenic, which, for years past, has 

 been a substitute for divorce. When the object was to make 

 the Emperor Claudius exchange his earthly crown for an 

 apotheosis, he was poisoned with mushrooms, which caused 

 them to be called at Rome, a dish for the gods. 



We were just now speaking of that disagreeably smelling 

 plant, rtie; it is recalled to my mind by speaking of poison. 

 Eue was for a long time considered a very powerful antidote, 

 and it is asserted that the famous counter-poison of Mithri- 

 dates. King of Pontus, was composed of nothing but twenty 

 leaves of rue pounded with two dried walnuts, two figs, and a 

 little salt. 



Rue entered into the composition of the famous vinegar of 

 the four thieves. It is said that four thieves, at the time of 

 the Plague of Marseilles, invented this anti-pestilential vine- 

 gar, by means of which they entered infected houses without 

 danger, and took away all property worth the conveyance. 

 Pei'haps the four thieves did nothing in this case but invent 

 a story which enabled them to sell their vinegar at a high 

 price. 



A vinegar for the plague was likewise made of pinks, but 

 whatever may be the efficacy attributed to it, I fancy it would 

 be better to leave the pink out of the composition than to 

 leave out the vinegai-. 



The pink is one of the flowers deemed worthy to be called 

 flowers by the amateurs. I have read in an old book a mag- 

 nificent eulogy of the pink : it was there I found the receipt 

 for pink vinegar against the plague. 



In this book, the pink is praised for not having thorns like 

 the rose. " The water distilled from pinks," adds the author, 

 "is an excellent remedy against epilepsy; but if a conserve 

 be composed of it, it is the life and delight of the human 

 race." The author gives i-eceipts in his book for making 

 pinks bloom blue or green, a thing which is not seen now, 

 and is not practicable. 



