PREFACE. 
xiii 
laid down, and they are inserted under their last word, 
even when the composition is not apparent at first sight, 
as tur-nep, the nep which is round as if turned in a lathe, 
so pars-nep, that which from its size requires to be chopped 
or divided into parts to fit it for eating, as schoolboys are 
said to parse their lessons, when they divide them gram- 
matically. Pars-ley is, by an error only referred to under 
ley. It signifies an herb to be chopped, alluding to its use 
in sauces and stuffing. The ley being only another spell- 
ing of lea, grass, as in the song — • 
Over the water and over the lea ; 
but, in parsley, is used for herb, as Virgil, on the contrary, 
uses herba for grass — 
In raolli consedimus herbti. — Buc. 3, 55. 
An index of the authors mentioned in the Introduction, 
and a very copious index of the botanical terms, are sub- 
joined to the first volume. It was at first intended to omit 
the references to those terms which are self-evident to an 
English reader, but, spon considering that foreigners might 
have occasion to ascertain their meaning, they have been 
inserted, omitting however those English terms which vary 
but slightly in their termination from the corresponding 
Latin terms. 
I have now to return my thanks for the kind assistance 
1 have received, and particularly to A. B. Lambert, R.A. 
Salisbury, and A. H. Haworth, Esqrs. Messrs. E. and J. 
Bennett, and Mr. Deer. The death of Sir Joseph Banks, 
during the printing, has, to my great regret, prevented me 
from a similar acknowledgement, as a slight return for 
the many advantages I have received from the use of his 
Library and Herbari um : and has also been a cause of great 
delay, in being obliged to wait the arrival of another copy 
of Esenbeck’s work from Germany, that those interesting- 
plants the fungi might be arranged according to the latest 
improvements. 
