GEORGE HERBERT ON SALVES 139 



practical uses of all the plants that grew in it ; 

 such knowledge was part of her education. As 

 good George Herbert said in 1620 : ' In the know- 

 ledge of simples, wherein the manifold wisdom of 

 God is wonderfully to be seen, one thing should 

 be carefully observed, which is, to know what 

 herbs may be used instead of drugs of the same 

 nature, and to make the garden the shop. . . . 

 Accordingly, for salves his wife seeks not the City, 

 but prefers her garden and fields before all out- 

 landish gums. And surely Hyssop, Valerian, 

 Mercury, Adder's -tongue. Yarrow, Mehcot and 

 St. John's Wort, made into a salve, and Elder, 

 Camomile, Mallows, Comphrey and SmaUage made 

 into a poultice, have done great and rare cures.' 



