CABBAGE. | NATURAL HISTORY. 49 
hater. Evelyn, in his ‘“ Acetaria” (1699), says, ‘Tis 
scarce an hundred years since we first had Cabbages out 
of Holland,” in which statement he must be mistaken, 
as Cabbage was commonly eaten all over England before 
1633. (fobnson’s Gerard's ‘‘ Herbal,” p. 313.) 
First men ate Coles ere they had corn and flesh to eat; 
tofore the flood men ate apples, Coles and herbs, as beasts 
eat grass and herbs. The stalks and leaves thereof grow 
swifter than stalks -and leaves of other herbs; and the 
overmost crop thereof is called thyme; and the natural 
virtue of this herb is namely in the crop thereof. The 
herb breedeth thick blood and troubly and horrible smell. 
And some Cole is summer Cole, and some is winter 
Cole. The malice thereof is withdrawn if it be sod or 
boiled in water, and that water thrown away, and the Cole 
then sodden in other water with good fatness and savoury. 
Leaves thereof, bruised and laid to two days, healeth 
wounds of hounds both new and old, and that wonderly. 
Cole withstandeth wine and drunkenness, and _ ‘comforteth 
the sinews. And the juice thereof helpeth against venom, 
and also against biting of a wood hound; and serpents 
flee the smell of Cole sod. 
Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xvii. § 114. 
[Gerard in his ‘‘ Herbal” describes the following sorts of 
Coleworts: Garden Colewort, curled garden Cole, red Colewort, 
white Cabbage Cole, red Cabbage Cole, open Cabbage Cole, double 
Colewort, double crisp or curled Colewort, cauliflower, swollen 
Colewort (blue and curly), Savoy Cole, curled Savoy Cole, parsley 
Colewort, and small-cut Colewort; and sea-Colewort (which may 
be a wild sea-kale), and wild Colewort, grown for its seeds.] 
Tue Colewort being eaten is good for them that have 
dim eyes, and that are troubled with the shaking palsy. 
The raw Colewort being eaten before meat doth preserve a 
man from drunkenness; the reason is yielded, for that 
there is a natural enmity between it and the vine, which 
is such, as if it grow near unto it, forthwith the vine 
perisheth and withereth away ; yea, if wine be poured unto 
it while it is in boiling, it will not be any more boiled, 
and the colour thereof quite altered. The seed taketh 
away freckles of the face and’ sun-burning. _ 
Gerard’s “ Herbal,” bk. ii. ch. xl. 
4 
