152 
MR. E. CORDER ON THE CULTURE AND 
indigo into the continental dye houses, it gradually pushed Woad 
out of the market. When first used it was customary to mix a little 
indigo with the Woad, to heighten and improve the colour of the 
latter, but by degrees the quantity of indigo was increased, until 
Woad was displaced entirely. 
A law was passed in the reign of Elizabeth to prevent the use 
of indigo in England ; this law was in full force in the time of 
Charles II. Henry of Navarre went so far as to make it a capital 
offence for anyone to sell that pernicious drug called “inde.” In 
Germany it Avas knoAvn as “ devil’s dye,” and was prohibited by an 
imperial edict in 1654, and great precautions were taken against its 
clandestine introduction. It was not until 1737 that the French 
dyers Avere left at liberty to employ those dyes they pleased ; as late 
as 1598 the Woad growers of Languedoc solicited the prohibition 
of indigo in that province as it Avas ruining their trade in Woad. 
It Avas at that time cultivated at tremendous profit in many districts 
in Europe, principally Picardy, Normandy, and Languedoc in 
France, Thuringia in Germany, and Piedmont in Italy, these 
provinces OAving the greater part of their enormous Avealth to this 
industry. When Francis I. was defeated at the battle of Pavia, 
where he Avas taken prisoner, he oAved the principal part of his 
ransom to Beruni, a Woad merchant of Toulouse, and it is even 
said that the expression “ pays de cocaigne,” figuratively meaning a 
land of milk and honey, takes its origin from the proverbial 
richness of those provinces Avhere the coques or cocaignes Avere 
made. 
Woad Avas knoAvn to the Eomans as Glastum, Keltic for blue, 
and the use of Woad dating anterior to the Roman conquest, the 
Briton may have obtained his information from Gaul, and the 
Gaul from Italy. As the colour could at no time have existed 
naturally in the plant, it Avould be interesting to knoAv by Avhat 
means the pigment Avas obtained at this early period ; the Britons 
probably used it more as a tattoo than a paint. The Avord comes 
from the Anglo-Saxon “good,” a herb or Avecd, and it Avas called 
by them Avaide, Avaisda, and Avad, which last name still survives in 
the Fens; Goadum, an ancient town in Italy, where the plant 
Avas cultivated at an early period, is said to take its name from the 
same source. In England those employed in its sale or use Avere 
knoAvn as Aveyders, and are so described in the records of NorAvich. 
