Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie
and _Primerose_) is of two sortes. The smaller sorte, which we call
Primerose, _Herbasculum minus_, is of diuers kindes, as yellow and
greene, single and dubble."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 122.
Lupton (Book of Notable Things, v. 89) speaks of "Primroses, which some
take to be Daisies."--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E216] "Rosemary," Lat. _rosmarinus_, sea-spray, from its usually
growing on the sea-coast and its odour, is recommended by Lyte for
fastening loose teeth. "Take of rewe a grete quantite, and sawge halfe
als mekille, and _rosemaryne_ the same quantitee."--MS. Linc. Med. f.
283. According to Andrew Boorde it is a remedy for "palses and for the
fallynge syckenes, and for the cowghe, and good agaynst colde."
[E217] "Safron," Sp. _azafran_, from Arabic _al zahafaran_. On the
cultivation, etc., of Saffron in England, there is a long account in
Harrison's Description of England, book iii. cap. 24. See note E354.
[E218] "Spinage." "Called in Arabic _Hispanach_; 'Arabicæ factionis
principes _Hispanach_, hoc est, Hispanicum olus nominant.'--Fuchs,
Hist. Stirp. p. 668. Dodoens (bk. v. 1. 5) tells us, '_Spinachiam_
nostra ætas appellat, nonnulli _spinacheum_ olus. Ab Arabibus et
Serapione _Hispanac_ dicitur.' Brunfelsius (ed. 1531) says expressly
at p. 16, 'Quæ vulgo _spinachia_ hodie, Atriplex _Hispaniensis_ dicta
est quondam; eo quod ab Hispania primum allata est ad alias exteras
nationes.' Tragus also calls it _Olus Hispanicum_; Cotgrave, _Herbe
d'Espaigne_; and the modern Greeks σπαναχιον [Greek: spanachion]."--Dr.
R. A. Prior.
[E219] Lyte, p. 642, says: "_Cyues_ or Rushe onions: this kinde of
Leekes is called in English Cyues, and of Turner in Latine, _Cepa
pallacana_, and in Greke Gethyun, which he Englisheth by al these
names, a Cyue, a Civet, a Chyue, or _Sweth_."
[E220] "Tanzie," Fr. _athanasie_, contracted to _tanacée_ and
_tanaisie_. Lyte says, p. 18, that it was sold in the shops under the
name of _Athanasia_, the Greek word for immortality, and that it was so
called, "quod non cito flos inarexat." A cake used to be made in which
tansy was one of the ingredients, and which was called Tansay-Cake. The
following recipe for it is given in MS. Sloane 1986, f. 100:
"Breke egges in bassyn, and swynge hem sone,
Do powder of peper therto anone,
Then grynde _tansay_, tho juse owte wrynge,
To blynde with tho egges, withowte lesynge.
In pan or skelet thou shalt hit frye,
In buttur well skymm et wyturly,
Or white grece thou may take therto,
Geder hit on acake, thenne hase thou do,
With platere of tre, and frye hit browne,
On brodeleches serve hit thou schalle,
With fraunche-mele* or other metis withalle."
* A dish composed chiefly of eggs and sheeps' fat.
In Halliwell's Dict. is also given a recipe for a dish called
_Tansie_. Cogan, in his Haven of Health, p. 65, says: "It is much vsed
among vs in England about Easter, with fried egs, not without good
cause, to purge away the fleame engendred of fish in Lent season,
whereof wormes are soone bred in them that be thereto disposed, though
the common people vnderstand not the cause, why _Tansies_ are more vsed
after Lent, than at any other time of the yeare." "To prevent being
Bug-bitten. Put a sprig or two of _Tansy_ at the bed head, or as near
the pillow as the smell may be agreeable."--T. Cosnett's Footman's
Directory, p. 292. "For to dystroy a Wrang Nayle, othewyse callyd a
Corne. Take wylde _tansey_, and grynde yt, and make yt neshe, and ley
it therto, and it wyl bryng yt owght."--Lambeth MS. 306, f. 65, quoted
in Political, Relig. and Love Poems (E. E. Text Soc. ed. Furnivall), p.
36.
The wild tansey is not Tusser's plant.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E221] "Blessed Thistle." "So worthily named for the singular vertues
that it hath.... It sharpneth the wit and memorie, strengthneth all the
principall parts of the bodie, quickneth all the senses, comforteth
the stomacke, procureth appetite, and hath a speciall vertue against
poyson, and preserueth from the Pestilence, and is excellent good
against any kinde of Feuer, being vsed in this manner: Take a dramme
of the powder, put it into a good draught of ale or wine, warme it and
drink it a quarter of an hour before the fit doth come, then goe to
bed, couer you well with clothes and procure sweate, which by the force
of the herbe will easily come foorth, and so continue vntill the fit be
past.... For which notable effects this herbe may worthily be called
_Benedictus_ or _Omnimorbia_, that is a salue for euery sore, not
knowen to Physitians of old time, but lately reuealed by the speciall
providence of Almighty God."--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 545.
[E222] "Purslane," in Turner's Herball _Purcellaine_, in the Grete
Herball _Porcelayne_, in Dodoens _Purcelayne_. "It is good against St.
Antonies fier, called _erysipelas_."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 576. "Purslain
in Latin is called _Portulaca, a portula_ = a little gate, because they
fancied it to be like one."--Lemery's Treatise on Foods, 1704, p. 92.
[E223] "Rampions," Fr. _raiponce_, "a word mistaken as in the case
of _cerise_ and _pease_, for a plural, and the _m_ inserted for
euphony."--Dr. Prior, Popular Names of British Plants.
[E224] "Men say that who so taketh the seede of Rockat before he be
beaten or whipt, shalbe so hardened that he shall easily endure the
payne, according as Plinie writeth."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 622. What a
pity Tusser did not know of this property of the Rocket! from his own
account he had plenty of opportunities of testing it at Eton.
[E225] "Sage causeth wemen to be fertill, wherefore in times past the
people of Egypt, after a great mortalite and pestilence, constreyned
their wemen to drinke the iuyce therof, to cause them the sooner to
conceyue, and to bring foorth store of children."--Lyte's Dodoens, p.
252.
[E226] "Sea holie." _Eryngium maritimum_, Linn. "The leaves are good
to be eaten in sallads."--Langham's Garden of Health. "The young and
tender shoots are eaten of divers either raw or pickled."--Parkinson,
Theatrum Botanicum, 1640, p. 988.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E227] "Sampere is a weede growing neare the sea-side, and is very
plentifull about the Ile of Man, from whence it is brought to diuers
parts of England, preserved in Brine, and is no lesse wholesome than
Capers."--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 64. The Eng. Samphire is a
corruption of the Fr. Herbe de _Saint Pierre_, from its growing on the
rocks on the sea-shore. The leaves are used in the form of a pickle as
an article of diet.
[E228] "The _Ionians_ had so much Veneration for them that they swore
by _Cabbages_, and were therein as superstitious as the _Egyptians_,
who gave divine Honours to _Leeks_ and _Onions_, for the great Benefits
which they said they received from them."--Lemery's "Treatise on
Foods," 1704, p. 73.
[E229] "Citrons," according to Lyte, p. 704, will cure "tremblynge
of the hart and pensiue heavinesse, wamblynges, vomitinges, and
lothsomnesse of the stomache." The citron was probably introduced into
Europe with the orange by the Arab conquerors of Spain, and first
received in England from that country. By a MS. in the Tower it appears
that in 1290, 18 Edw. I., a large Spanish ship came to Portsmouth,
and that from her cargo Queen Eleanor purchased Seville figs, dates,
pomegranates, 15 _Citrons_, and 7 _poma de orenge_.--Way in Prompt.
Parv.
[E230] "The garden Basill is called in English _Basill Royall_ or
_Basill gentle_, and the smaller kinde is called _Bushse_ (sic)
_Basill_. The herbe brused with vineger and holden to the nose of
suche as are faynt and fallen into a sound bringeth them againe to
themselues, and the seede therof giuen to be smelled upon causeth the
sternutation or niesing."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 241. "One thing I read in
Hollerius (Lib. i. cap. i.) of Basill, which is wonderfull. 'A certaine
Italian, by often smelling to Basill, had a scorpion bred in his
braine, and after vehement and long paines he died thereof.'"--Cogan's
Haven of Health, p. 50. See also 51. 34.
[E231] "Costmary, L. _Costus amarus_, Fr. _coste amere_, misunderstood
as _Costus Mariæ_, an error that has very naturally arisen from this
plant having been dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, and called after
her, _Maudlin_, either in allusion to her box of scented ointment, or
to its use in the uterine affections over which she presided. In old
authors it occurs as _Herba sanctæ_ or _divæ Mariæ_."--Dr. R. Prior,
Popular Names of Brit. Plants. Called also Alecost from its having
formerly been esteemed an agreeable aromatic bitter, and much used for
flavouring ale: "If you list to make a pleasant drinke, and comfortable
to the stomache, put certaine handfuls of this herbe in the bottome of
a vesselle, and tunne up new Ale vpon it."--Cogan, Haven of Health, ch.
69.
[E232] "Paggles," spelt also Paigle, Pagle, Pagel, Peagle, Pegyll and
Pygil, a name now confined to the Eastern Counties, and generally
assigned to the Cowslip, but by Ray and Moor to the _Ranunculus
bulbosus_. The derivation is uncertain. "Blake (yellow) as a
paigle."--Ray. In Suffolk the name is applied to the Crowfoot, the
_Cuckoo-flower_.
[E233] "Our common germander or thistle benet is found and knowne to
bee so wholesome and of so great power in medicine, as anie other
hearbe, if they be vsed accordinglie."--Harrison, Descript. of Eng.,
ed. Furnivall, pt. i. p. 326. "The iuyce of the leaues mengled with
oyle, and straked vpon the eyes, driueth away the white cloude,
called the Hawe or Pearle in the eye, and all manner dimness of the
same."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 25.
[E234] "That which is commonly called Sothernewood is the male kinde
of this herbe, and that which we doe call _Lauender-cotten_ is the
female, named in Latine _Cypressus_ or _Santolina_. The setting of
_Lauender-cotten_ within the house in floure pots must needes be very
wholesome, for it driveth away venemous wormes, both by strawing, and
by the sauour of it, and being drunke in wine it is a remedie against
poyson."--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 56.
[E235] "Mawdelin," spelt also _Maudlin, Mawdeleyn_ and _Maudeline_,
appears to have derived its name similarly to _Costmary_, q.v., and to
have been applied to the same uses.
[E236] "Baies," Bays, from French _baie_, which is formed from
Lat. _bacca_ = a berry. In old writers _bay_ is used for a _berry_
generally, as "the bayes of ivyne," but in time the term came to be
applied to the berries of the _sweet bay_, called by Virgil _lauri
baccas_, from their being an article of commerce; from the berry the
term was extended to the tree itself.
[E237] "Bachelor's Buttons." So called, according to Johnson's Gerarde,
p. 472, "from their similitude to the jagged cloathe buttons anciently
worne in this kingdom," but according to others from "a habit of
country fellows to carry them in their pockets to divine their success
with their sweethearts." Called by Lyte (Dodoens, p. 421), _Goldcup_
or _Gold knoppe_, and described as a double variety of the flower now
known so well as the Butterflower, or Buttercup, the Fr. _bouton d'or_.
[E238] "Columbine," called Colourbine in Lincoln, _Aquilegia vulgaris_,
used for making stuffed chine.
"There are many sorts of Colombines, as well differing in forme as
colour of the flowers, and of them both single and double carefully
noursed up in our gardens, for the delight both of their forme and
colours."--Parkinson, _Paradisus_, 1629, p. 271.--Note by Mr. J.
Britten, F.L.S.
[E239] "Daffadowndilly, Daffodilly, Affodilly, and Daffodil, Lat.
_asphodelus_, from which was formed Affodilly, the name of it in all
the older writers, but subsequently confused with that of another
flower, the so-called _sapharoun_ or saffron _lily_:
"'The thyrde _lylye_ ȝyt there ys,