1 64 THE BOOK OF HERBS 



Russell gives instructions, in his " Boke of Nurture," 

 how to " make a Bath medicinable," by adding herbs, — 

 mallow, hollyhocks and fennel being among the number. 

 And he directs that herbs " sweet and greene " should be 

 hanged round the room " when the Master will have a 

 bath " ; a proceeding which was evidently something of a 

 ceremony. 



To-day, there is an unfortunate tendency among the 

 poor, to desert herbs, not for "doctor's medicine," but 

 for any quackery they may chance to see "on the paper" 

 and some of these remedies are advertised to cure nearly 

 as many and diverse diseases, as any of the compounds 

 prescribed by the Ancients. Consequently, one usually 

 hears of the uses of herbs in the past tense. There is a 

 curious poem (published at Ipswich, 1796) called the 

 " Poor Phytologist, or the Author Gathering Herbs," by 

 James Chambers, Itinerant Poet, which gives the names 

 and virtues of the simples most prized at that date. He 

 was a pedlar, who wandered about the country, always 

 accompanied by several dogs, and he added to his " pre- 

 carious mode of existence, the art of making nets and 

 composing acrostics." I have quoted some of his lines 

 at the beginning of this chapter, but few of the herbs he 

 mentions are in popular use now, at least in the west of 

 England. Betony occurs in some old village recipes 

 still employed, though its vaunted powers have been 

 declared vain by science. Amongst those that I have 

 known, or have heard of, through personal friends, as 

 being still, or quite recently in use, are the following : — 

 Dandelion, Centaury, Meadow-Sweet and Wild-Sage are 

 used as " bitters." By Wi/d-Sa.ge, Wood-Sage is usually, 

 if not always, meant. Dandelion is, of course, in the 

 British Pharmacopoeia ; and Wood-Sage, though not 

 officinal, is asked for by some chemists. Bear's foot 

 (Hellebore) has five finger-like leaves, but one finger is 

 bad and must be torn off. Angelica is a wonderful herb ; 



