'PENIRIALL' IN POSIES 



75 



London, called Miles End, about the holes and 

 ponds thereof in many places, from whence poore 

 women bring plentie to sell in London markets.' 

 Trails of it, dried and thrown by handfuls into 

 stagnant water, were supposed to purify and make 

 it fit for drinking. Sailors, therefore, were glad to 

 buy the Herb and use it when at sea. In hot 

 countries Pennyroyal is thought to be a good 

 protection from mosquitoes, and the royal way it 

 keeps off other insects is responsible for its Latin 

 name, Mentha pulegium. In Italy it counteracts 

 the evil-eye, and in Sicily is hung on Fig-trees to 

 prevent the Figs from falling before they are ripe. 

 Here, too, the children put Pennyroyal among the 

 green things that line their Christmas creches, and 

 believe that exactly at midnight on Christmas Eve 

 the little plants burst into buds that will be in full 

 bloom on Christmas Day. Pliny came to the 

 conclusion, after much consultation, that a chaplet 

 of Pennyroyal worn on the head was far better than 

 one of Roses to relieve giddiness. In Elizabethan 

 days the Herb was thought worthy of a place in the 

 posies that were given and accepted by true lovers : 



' Peniriall is to print your love 

 So deep within my heart, 

 That when you look this nosegay on 

 My pain you may impart. 



