The Deadly Nightshade 



have eaten thereof into a dead sleepe where many 

 have died, as hath been often seen and proved by 

 experience both in England and elsewhere." Long 

 before his day, when Duncan I. was King of Scotland 

 and Macbeth his general, the wily Scots poisoned a 

 whole army of invading Danes, by placing its berries 

 in the wine they supphed during a truce, and since 

 that day the tale of tragedies due to it has been 

 continued. Children are particularly apt to be 

 attracted by the shining lusciousness of the berries. 

 Happily the plant is rare even in the waste and 

 stony places it favours. It is a true native, but 

 is also often supposed to be a relic of olden 

 days, when it found a place in every herb garden, 

 and colour is lent to this supposition by its fre- 

 quent presence near ruins and quarries. In the 

 darker days of the Middle Ages, together with 

 the hemlock and the henbane, it played a great 

 part in the machinations of witches. 



Most of its common names refer to its evil pro- 

 perties ; Daft Berries, Devil's Berry, Mad Nightshade, 



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