ii 6 Chap. 2d. Tbeatrum c Botanicum. Tribe 2* 
the violence thereof) to worke any trctiblefome fit or paffion in any that hath taken it. without any of that pre¬ 
paration aforefaid,(the remedy if any danger be thereby is to drinke Goates milke) yet Matthiolus doth much t 
commend his Elleborifmui^ihe receipt whereof is in the third booke of his Bpiflles namely in that to Hatmfchiw) \ 
whefe preparation is to fleepe the rootes and take out their pith and dry the barke againe, and preferreth the : 
rootes of that true blacke Ellebor thatbeareth redflowers, before thofe that beare white, but in want of the : 
one as he faith hitnfclfe, the other may be toasgoodcffefl taken; for that kind (if it be a kind of it felfe, that : 
will not degene rate, and not the quality of the climate onely caufmg the colour) wee havenot feenegrowing ■ 
in our land, although fuch an one hathbeenefent me from beyond fea, but periihed quickly after:lie commen- '• 
deth it for all the griefes aforefay d : yet ifan extract be made of the rootes, it will ferve upon all accafionj, being 
ready at hand to be ufed: the rootes applyed in a pelfarie mightily prevaile to bring downe womens courfes: 
the powder of the roote (frowed upon foule Vlcers, although they be fiflulous doth quicklyheale them; 
and if there be any callous or hardfielh growneinthe fibula, the roote left in it for two ot three dayes will con- • 
fume it quite. Galen remembreth this in 6 A?fmpl.medfaeu/t. and Iulitu Alexar.innut faith,he often tryed it to i 
be true : the rootcsboyled in vinegar, and any place walhed therewith troubled withfcabbes.whealesorpuihes, 
the lepry or any other fuch like breaking out, yea although they be gangrenous or eating fores, by flaying their ( 
eating or fpreadmg, preferveth the ftefli from putrefadion: the fame decoftion alfo helpeth the Toothach, if ’ 
the mouth be gargled therewith : as alio dropped into the eares eafeth the noyfe and helpeth the deafeneffe. 
The Second kind which is the lefl'er baflard Hellebor or Ecares foot, for any thing that ever I could finde, by the 
feverall tryalls made thereof, is more forceablc and churlifh in working and purging then the former • a dram 
ofthe rootes (leeped in wine all night and drunke in the morning, afluredlyprevailcth powerfully againftall the : 
difeafes appropriate unto the former kind: therefore I fhall notneedeto repeate the fame things a^aineibut 
belides the things before remembred, the powder of the dryed leaves thereof doth helpe to kill the wormes in 
children more cffeftually : a little thereof given in drinke or broth, or in a Fig or Rayfins, or llrowed upon 
bread fpread with Hony : it is fayd alfo to refill any poyfon that is taken to expellir, orcaule that it fhall not 
hurt--the ufe hereof likevvife in outward caufes, is the like with the former, as for foule fores and Fiflulaes 
Scabs,&c. An idle conceit poflefied many in ancient times, that he that would digge up the rootes hereof, had 
needetoeateGarlicke beforehand, lead: the evill vapours that fbould arifefromit in the digging up, didnot : 
offend the head and brair.e : The greater Ballard Hellebor or Setterworte, was held by 7 ~>edmtns as I fayd be¬ 
fore to be a venemous Aconite, not to be dealt with, and that it would kill Woolvcs, Foxes, Dogs,&c. I have 
knowen little ufe thereof unlefl'e in great neceflity, where the other forts are not to be had, and onely amon^ 
country people, whofefirong robullisus bodies are able to abide the working thereof; but is onely or chiefly 
ufed to rowell catcell withall,as TVoy/iAjy.r.s.faith that a pecce ofthe roote of blacke Hellcborbeing drawne 
through a hole made in the eare of a bead troubled with the cough, or having taken any poifonous thing cureth 
it,if it be taken out the next day at the fair.ehowre. Abfyrtiu and Hierocles declare the fame thing and Columella 
alfo : this manner of curing is ufed with us but the place is changed from the eare to the dewlap of Oxen.and to 
the foreleg or hinderleg of an horle above the pallcrne. It is thought alfo by divers of good Judgement that not 1 
onely all theHellebors both white and blacke will doe the like ifany cure be performed hereby, but many other 
forts of herbes: yet as the name Lowfcwort importeth the herbe made into an oyntment, or the decoction of 1 
the leaves killeth Lice, if the places be eytherwafhedorannointed that are chiefly troubled with them, Thefixt 
here fet foi th, which 1 call purging Sanide, hath beene often found by good experience to open and purge the 
body of melancholy humours, & thatfafely without fuch perturbation thereto as is fayd to be in the other forts of 
blacke Hellebor: UodonaM like wife fuppofing this to be HAiofcondes his black Hellebor.appropriateth all the ver- 
tues thereto, that Diofiaridn faith they of Anticyra ufed their Etteborus Sefamaccu the other forts ate not ufed I' 
or very feldoine in Phyfick now adayes. 
Chap. XXVI. 
Hellcborus A thus. White Hellebor or Neefewort. 
F 'he white Hellebores there are two principal! varieties, as greater and Idler, the greater being ac¬ 
counted wiiAus manured or ofthe garden,and the other wilce. 
i. Hf lleborus albas vulgaris, Ordinary white Helleboror Neefingroote. 
The firfl great white Hellebor nfeth at the firfl out of the ground with a great round whicifli 
greene head, which growing up openeth it felfe into many goodly faite large greenc leaves,plaited 
as it were withemi ent ribbes all along the leaves,compafling one another at the boctome, from the middle 
whereof rileth up a (Ircng round flalkc with divers fuch like leaves but fmallerto the middle thereof, from 
whence to the top it is divided into many branches,having many fmallyellowifhor whitifh green flar like flow¬ 
ers, all along upon them.which after turne into fmall long threefquare whitifli feede,Handing naked without any 
huske to containe them, although fome have written otherwife: the roote is reafonable thickc and great at the 
Alter fine head, having a number of great white firings runnin 
rg downe deepe into the ground,whereby it is flrongly fade- 
ifto be whiter,and fo would make a differing fort thereof for 
that caufe onely, but r doe not thinke it worth the name of a differing fort. 
2. Hellcborus albas pracox five atro-rubente fore . The early white Ellebor with darke red flowers. 
This other Hellebor is very like the former,but that it fpringeth up a moneth at the leaft before it, and that the 
leaves are longer thinner & no lefle plaited, foulding themfelves backwards oftentimes.and fooner perifh falling 
away from the plant: the ilalke hereof is higher then the former, with fewer leaves thereon,bearing fuch (tarry 
flowers, but of fo darke or blackifh a red colour, that they are fcarce difcernable but at a neere diflance,the 
feede is very like the former : the roote hath no fuch tuberous head as the other, but as it were along bulbous 
fcaly head,from whence fhoote as many long white firings as the other: both thefe lofe their leaves wholly and 
gaine frefh every fpring. 
EUcber'me 
