HERBS CHIEFLY USED IN THE PAST 6i 



HoREHOUND {Marrubium vulgare). 



Here hore-liound 'gainst the mad dog's ill 

 By biting, never failing. 



J\duses Elysium. 



Pale hore-hound, which he holds of most especiall use. 



Folyolbion^ Song xiii. 



Folkard says that horehound is one of the five plants 

 stated by the Mishna to be the " bitter herbs," which 

 the Jews were ordered to take for the Feast of the 

 Passover, the other four being coriander, horse-radish, 

 lettuce and nettle. The name Marrubium is supposed 

 to come from the Hebrew Marrob, a bitter juice. De 

 Gubernatis writes that horehound was once regarded 

 as a " contre-poison magique," but very little is said 

 about it on the whole, and it is an uninteresting 

 plant to look at, and much like many others of the 

 labiate tribe. Long ago the Apothecaries sold " sirop 

 of horehound " for " old coughs " and kindred disorders, 

 and horehound tea and candied horehound are still made 

 to relieve the same troubles. Candied horehound is 

 made by boiling down the fresh leaves and adding 

 sugar to the juice thus extracted, and then again boiling 

 the juice till it has become thick enough to pour into 

 little cases made of paper. 



Lady's-smock (Cardamine pratensis). 



Then comes Daffodil beside 



Our ladye's smock at our Ladye-tide. 



An Larly Calendar of English Flonvers. 



When daisies pied and violets bine 



And lady-smocks all silver white 

 And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue 



Do paint the meadows with delight. 



Lovers Labour Lost^ V. z. 



And some to grace the show. 

 Of lady-smocks do rob the neighbouring mead. 



Wherewith their looser locks most curiously they braid. 



Palyoibian, Song xx. 



