THE MANDRAKE. 105 
lived in the time of Queen Elizabeth, declares, 
that he had divers times taken up the roots of the 
mandrake, but had never found them under the 
gallows; nor of the form which the pedlars, who 
sold them in boxes, pretended them to have been. 
This form was that of an ugly little man, with a 
long beard hanging down to his feet. Gerard, 
the herbalist, also, who wrote thirty years later, 
used many endeavours to convince the world of 
the impositions practised upon them, and states, 
that he and his servant frequently dug up the 
roots without receiving harm, or hearing any 
shrieks whatever. 
The mandrake grows naturally in Spain, Por- 
tugal, Italy, and the Levant, and it is also indi- 
genous to China. It was introduced into this 
country about 1564. It is a handsome plant, and 
would, in particular situations, be ornamental 
to our gardens, independent of the strange, 
old associations connected with it, which would 
always make it an interesting object. I have 
seen it, however, only in one garden, that of 
the King of the Belgians at Claremont. 
“ It is,’ says Mr. Phillips, in his pleasant gar- 
