HERBS USED IN THE PRESENT TIME 1 1 



shall be cured and thy body altered.' So saying, and 

 declining to eat, he departed and was never seen again. 

 But the cottager gathered his Balm-leaves, followed the 

 prescription of the Wandering Jew, and before twelve 

 days were passed was a new man." 



Sweet Basil {Ocymum basilium) and Bush Basil 

 (0. mhumum). 



Madonna, wherefore hast thou sent to me 



Sweet basil and mignonette? 

 Embleming love and health which never yet 



In the same wreath might be. 



To Emilia Viiiiani. — Shelley. 



Basil is beloved of the poets, and the story of Isabella 

 and the Basil-pot keeps the plant in memory, where it is 

 itself never, or very rarely, seen. The opening lines of 

 Drayton's pretty poem beginning with Claia's speech : — 



Here damask roses, white and red, 

 Out of my lap first take I — 



are well known, and it is a pity that the whole of it is 

 not oftener quoted. Two maidens make rival chaplets, 

 and then examine the store of simples just gathered by 

 a hermit. Claia chooses her flowers for beauty, Lelipa 

 hers for scent, and Clarinax, the hermit, plucks his for 

 their " virtue " in medicine. Lelipa says : — 



A chaplet, me, of herbs I'll make, 

 Than which, though yours be braver, 

 Yet this of mine, I'll undertake, 

 Shall not be short in favour. 

 With Basil then I will begin, 

 Whose scent is wondrous pleasing. 



and a goodly number of sweet-herbs follows. 



Parkinson^ says of it, "The ordinary Basill is in a 

 manner wholly spent to make sweete, or washing 

 waters, among other sweet herbes, yet sometimes it 

 is put into nosegays. The Physicall properties are 



1 " Earthly Paradise," 1619. 



