6o THE BOOK OF HERBS 



selfe confessed unto me) he tooke out of his garden three 

 or four leaves of this plant" and administered them in 

 ale, with entire success. "Whose blunt attempt may 

 set an edge upon some sharper wit and greater judgment 

 in the faculties of plants." Any anticipation that his 

 experiment might lead to disaster does not seem to have 

 troubled him! The root of Patience-Dock "boiled in 

 the water of Carduus Benedictus " was also given at a 

 venture for an ague, and this experiment was tried by 

 "a worshipfuU gentlewoman, mistresse Anne Wylbraham, 

 upon divers of her poore Neighbours, with good success." 

 Mistress Anne Wylbraham must have been a woman of 

 temerity ! 



Garden-patience used to be a good deal cultivated as 

 spinach, but is now very much ignored, partly because few 

 people know how to cook it. The leaves should be 

 used early in the spring while they are still tender, and 

 the flavour will be very much improved if about a 

 fourth part of common sorrel is added to them. This 

 way of dressing patience-dock was very popular in 

 Sweden, and is described as " forming an excellent 

 spinach dish." Patience is sometimes spoken of as 

 " passions," but this name properly belongs to Polygonum 

 Bistoria, the leaves of which were the principal 

 ingredient in a herb-pudding, formerly eaten on Good 

 Friday in the North of England. Parkinson also speaks 

 in this chapter of the " true rhubarb of Rhapontick," 

 which has "leaves of sad or dark-greene colour ... of 

 a fine tart or sourish taste, much more pleasant than the 

 garden or wood sorrell." Dr Thornton, however, says 

 that Parkinson was mistaken, and that the first seeds of 

 true rhubarb were sent " by the great Boerhaave to our 

 famous gardener. Miller, in 1759 " — °iore than a hundred 

 years later. Very soon after Miller had it, rhubarb was 

 cultivated in many parts of England and in certain 

 localities in Scotland. 



