when they are half boyled you husk them and then stew them I cannot tell you how for I never was Cook in al my life they are wholsomer Food ♃ French-Beans Description THe French or Kidney Bean ariseth up at first but with one ftalk which afterwards divideth its self into many Arms or Branches but also weak that if they be not sustained with sticks or poles they wil lie fruitless upon the ground at several places of these Branches grow forth long footstalks with every one of them three broad round and pointed green Leavs at the end of them towards the tops wherof come forth divers Flowers made like unto Pease Blossoms of the same colour for the most part that the fruit wil be of that is to say white yellow red blackish or of a deep purple but white is most usual after which come long and slender flat Pods some crooked some straight with a string as it were running down the Back therof wherein are contained flattish round fruit made to the fashion of a Kidney the Root is long and spreadeth with many strings annexed to it and perisheth every year There is also another sort of French Beans commonly growing with us in this Land which is called the Scarlet flowred Bean. This ariseth up with sundry Branches as the other but runs up higher to the length of Hop-poles about which they grow twining but turning contrary to the Sun having Foot-stalks with three Leaves on each as on the other The Flowers also are in fashion like the other but many more set together and of a most Orient Scalet Colour The Beans are larger than the ordinary kind of a deep Purple colour turning black when it is ripe and dry The Root perisheth also in Winter Vertues The ordinary French Beans are of an casie digestion they move the Belly provoke Urin enlarge the Breast that is straitned with shortness of Breath engender Sperme and incite Venery And the Scarlet-coloured Beans in regard of the glorious beauty of their colour being set near a Quickset Hedg wil bravely adorn the same by climing up theron so that they may be discerned a great way not without admiration of the beholder at a distance But they wil go near to kil the Quicksets by cloathing them in Scarlet ♀ Ladies-Bedstraw Description THis ariseth up with divers smal brown and square upright Stalks a yard high or more somtimes branched forth into divers parts ful of Joynts and with diverse very fine small Leaves at ever one of them little or nothing rough at al At the tops of the Branches grow many long tufts or branches of yellow Flowers very thick set together from the several Joynts which consist of four smal Leavs apiece which smel somwhat strong but not unpleasant The Seed is smal and black like Poppy seed two for the most part joyned together The Root is reddish with many smal thrids fastned unto it which take strong hold of the ground and creepeth a little And the Branches leaning a little down to the ground take Root at the Joynts therof wherby it is easily encreased Ther is also another sort of Ladies-Bedstraw growing frequently in England which beareth white Flowers as the other doth yellow but the Branches of this are so weak that unless it be sustained by the Hedges or other things near which it groweth it wil lie down on the ground the Leaves a little bigger than the former and the Flowers not so plentiful as those and the Root here of is also thridy and abiding Place They grow in Meadows and Pastures both wet and dry and by the Hedges Time They flower in May for the most part and the Seed is ripe in July and August Vertues and use The Decoction of the former of these being drunk is good to fret and break the Stone and provokes urin stayeth inward bleedings and healeth inward Wounds The Herb or Flower bruised and put up into the Nostrils stayeth their bleeding likewise The Flowers and the Herb made into an Oyl by being set in the Sn◠and changed after it hath stood ten or twelve daies or into an Ointment being boyled in Axungia or Sallet-Oyl with some Wax melted therein after it is strained either the Oyl made therof or the Ointment do help Burnings with Fire or Scalding with Water the same also or the Decoction of the Herb and Flower is good to bath the Feet of Travellers and Lacquies whose long running causeth weariness and stifness in their Sinews and Joynts If the Decoction be used warm and the Joynts afterwards anointed with the Ointment It helpeth the dry Scab and the Itch in Children And the Herb with the white Flower is also very good for the Sinews Arteries and Joynts to comfort and strengthen them after travel cold and pains They are both Herbs of Venus and therfore strengthen the patrs both internal and external which she rules Beets Description THere are two sorts of Beets which are best known generally and wherof I shal principally intreat at this time Viz. The White and the Red Beets and their Vertues The Common White Beet hath many great Leaves next the ground somwhat large and of a whitish green colour The Stalk is great strong and ribbed bearing great store of leaves upon it almost to the very top of it The flowers grow in very long tufts smal at the ends and turning down their Heads which are smal pale greenish vellow Burrs giving cornered prickled Seed The Root is great long and hard and when it hath given Seed of no use at all The Common Red Beet differeth not from the White but only it is lesser and the Leaves and the Roots are somwhat red The Leaves are differently red in som only with red strakes or veins som of a fresh red and others of a dark red The Rot here of is red spungy and not used to be eaten The White Beet doth much loosen the Belly and is of a clensing and digesting quality and provoketh Urin The Juyce of it openeth obstructions both of the Liver and Spleen and is good for the Headaches and swimmings therein and turnings of the Brain and is effectual also against al venemous creatures and applied upon the Temples stayeth Inflamations in the Eyes it helpeth Burnings being used without Oyl and with a little Allum put to it is good for St. Anthonies fire It is also good for al Wheals Pushes Blisters and Blains in the Skin The Herb boyled and laid upon Chilblains or Kibes helpeth them The Decoction therof in Water and some Vinegar healeth the Itch if bathed therwith and clenseth the Head of Dandraf Scurff and dry Scabs and doth much good for fretting and running Sores Ulcers Cankers in the Head Legs or other parts and is much commended against Baldness and shedding of Hair The red Beet is good to stay the Bloody Flux Womens Courses and the Whites and to help the yellow Jaundice The Juyce or the Root
red tending to a Carnation colour consisting of five somtimes six small Leavs very like those of St. Johns Wort opening themselvs in the day time and closing at night after which come Seed in little short Husks in form like unto Wheat Corns The Leavs are smal and somwhat round The Root smal and hard perishing every year The whol Plant is of an exceeding bitter tast There is another sort in al things like the former save only it beareth white Flowers Place They grow ordinarily in Fields Pastures and Woods but that with the white Flowers not so frequent as the other Time They Flower in July or there abouts and Seed within a Month after Vertues and use This Herb boyled and drunk purgeth Chollerick and gross humors and helpeth the Sciatica It openeth Obstructions of the Liver Gall and Spleen helping the Jaundice and easing pains in the Sides and hardness of the Spleen used outwardly and is given with very good effect in Agues It helpeth those that have the Dropsie or the green Sickness being much used by the Italians in pouder for that purpose It killeth the Worms in the Belly as is found by experience The Decoction therof viz. the tops of the Stalks with the Leavs and Flowers is good against the Chollick and to bring down Womens Courses helpeth to avoid the dead birth and easeth pains of the Mother and is very effectual in al old pains of the Joynts as the Gout Cramps or Convulsions A dram of the Pouder therof taken in Wine is a wonderful good help against the biting and poyson of the Adder The Juyce of the Herb with a little Honey put to it is good to cleer the Eyes from dimness mists and clouds that offend or hinder the Sight It is singular good both for green and fresh Wounds as also for old Ulcers and Sores to close up the one and clens the other and perfectly to cure them both although they be hollow or Fistulous the green Herb especially being bruised and laid therto The Decoction therof dropped into the Ears clenseth them from Worms clenseth the foul Ulcers and spreading Scabs of the Head and taketh away al Freckles Spots and Marks in the Skin being washed therwith The Herb is so safe you cannot fail in the using of it only give inwardly for inward Diseases use it outwardly for outward Diseases 'T is very wholsom but not very toothsom Dr. Reason and Dr. Experience could not agree the last time I spake with them whether the Herb were under the Dominion of the Sun or Mars ♀ The Cherry-Tree I Suppose there are sew but know this Tree for his Fruits sake and therfore shal spare the writing a Description therof Place For the place of its growth it is afforded room in every Orchard Vertues and Vse Cherries as they are of different tasts so they are of divers qualities The sweet pass through the Stomach and Belly more speedily but are of little Nourishment The tart or sowr are more pleasing to an hot Stomach procuring appetite to meat and help to cut tough Flegm and gross humors but when these are dryed they are more binding the belly than when they are fresh being cooling in hot Diseases and welcom to the Stomach and provoke Urin. The Gum of the Cherry-Tree dissolved in Wine is good for a cold Cough and boarsness of the Throat mendeth the colour in the Face sharpneth the Eye-sight provoketh appetite and helpeth to break and expel the Stone The Black Cherries bruised with the Stones and distilled the Water therof is much used to break the Stone expel gravel and break the Wind. ♀ Winter Cherries Description THe Winter Cherry hath a running or creeping Root in the ground of the bigness many times of ones little Finger shooting forth at several Joynts in several places wherby it quickly spreadeth a great compass of gronnd The Stalk riseth not above a yard high wheron are set many broad and long green Leavs somwhat like Night shade but larger at the Joynts wherof come forth whitish Flowers made of five Leavs apiece which after turn into green Berries inclosed with thin Skins which change to be reddish when they grow ripe the Berry likewise being reddish and as large as a Cherry wherin are contained many flat and yellowish Seeds lying within the pulp which being gathered and strung up are kept all the yeer to be used upon occasion Place They grow not naturally in this Land but are cherished in Gardens for their Vertues Time They Flower not until the middle or latter end of July and the Fruit is ripe about the end of August or beginning of September Vertues and use They are of great use in Physick The Leavs being cooling may be used in Inflamations but not opening as the Berries and Fruit are which by drawing down the Urine provoke it to be avoided plentifully when it is stopped or grown hot sharp and painful in the passage it is good also to expel the Stone and Gravel out of the Reins Kidnies and Bladder helping to dissolve the Stone and avoiding it by greet or gravel sent forth in the Urin It also helpeth much to clens inward Impostumes or Ulcers in the Reins or Bladder or in those that avoid a Bloody or foul Urin. The distilled Water of the Fruit or the Leavs together with them or the Berries green or dry distilled with a little Milk and drunk morning and evening with a little Sugar is effectual to al the purposes afore specified and especially against the heat and sharpness of the Urin. I shal only mention one way amongst many others which might be used for ordering the Berries to be helpful for the Urin and the Stone which is thus Take three or four good handfuls of the Berries either green and fresh or dried and having bruised them put them into so many Gallons of Beer or Ale when it is new tunned up This Drink taken daily hath been found to do much good to many both to eas the pains and expel Urin and the Stone and to caus the Stone not to ingender The Decoction of the Berries in Wine or Water is the most usual way but the Pouder of them taken in drink is more effectual ♃ Chervil Description THe Garden Chervil doth at first somwhat resemble Parsly but after it is better grown the Leavs are much cur in and jagged resembling Hemlocks being a little hairy and of a whitish green colour somtimes turning reddish in the Summer with the Stalks also It riseth little above half a Foot high bearing white Flowers in spoked tufts which turn into long and round Seed pointed at the ends and blackish when they are ripe of a sweet tast but no smel though the Herb it self smelleth reasonable wel The Root is smal and long and perisheth every yeer and must be sowen anew in the Spring for Seed and after July for Autumn Sallet The wild Chervil groweth two or three foot high with yellow
Decoction of the Leavs Bark or Root being bathed healeth broken Bones The Water that is found in the Bladders on the Leavs while it is fresh is very effectual to clens the Skin and make it fair â—â—â— if clothes be often wet therin and applied to the Ruptures of Children it helpeth them if they be after wel bound up with a Truss The said Water put into a Glass and set in the Ground or els in Dung for twenty five daies the Mouth therof being close stopped and the bottom set upon a lay of ordinary Salt that the Feces may settle and the Water become very clear is a singular and Soveraign Balm for green Wounds being used with soft tents The Decoction of the Bark of the Root somented mollifieth hard tumors and the shrinking of the Sinews The Roots of the Elm boyled for a long time in Water and the fat rising on the top therof being clean scummed off and the place anointed therwith that is grown Bald and the Hair fallen away will quickly restore them again The said Bark ground with Brine and Pickle until it come to the form of a Pultis and laid on the place pained with the Gout giveth great eas The Decoction of the Bark in Water is excellent to bath such places as have burned with fire ♃ Endive Description THe common Garden Endive beareth a longer and a larger Leaf than Succory and abideth but one yeer quickly running up to Stalk and Seed and then perisheth It hath blue Flowers and the Seed of the ordinary Endive is so like Succory Seed that it is hard to distinguish them Vertues and Vse The Decoction of the Leavs or the Juyce or the distilled Water of Endive serveth well to cool the excessive Hear in the Liver and Stomach and in the hot Fits of Agues and all other Inflamations in any part of the Body it cooleth the heat and sharpness of the Urine and the Excoriations in the Uritory parts The Seed is of the same property or rather more powerful and besides is available for the faintings swounings and passions of the Heart Outwardly applied they serve to temper the sharp Humors of fretting Ulcers hot Tumors and Swellings and Pestilential Sores and wonderfully helpeth not only the redness and Inflamation in the Eyes but the dimness of the Sight also They are also used to allay the pains of the Gout You cannot use it amiss a Syrup of it is a fine cooling Medicine for Feavers ☿ Elecampane Description THis shooteth forth many large Leavs long and broad lying neer the ground smal at both ends somwhat soft in handling of a whitish green on the upper side and gray underneath each set upon a short Footstalk from among which rise up divers great and strong hairy Stalks three or four foot high with some Leavs thereon compassing them about at the lower ends and are branched toward the tops bearing divers great and large Flowers like those of the Corn Marigold both the Borden of Leavs and the middle thrum being yellow which turn into Down with long small brownish Seed among it and is carried away with the wind The Root is great and thick branched forth divers waies blackish on the outside and white within of a very bitter tast and strong but good sent especially when they are dryed no part els of the Plant having any smel Place It groweth in the moist Grounds and shadowy places oftner than in the dry and open Borders of Fields and Lanes and in other wast places almost in every County of this Land Time It Flowreth in the end of June and July and the Seed is ripe in August The Roots are gathered for use as well in the Spring before the Leaves come forth as in Autumn or Winter Vertues and use The fresh Roots of Elecampane preserved with Sugar or made into a Syrup or Conserve are very effectual to warm a cold and windy Stomach or the pricking therin and Stitches in the Sides caused by the Spleen and to help the Cough shortness of Breath and wheesing in the Lungs The dried Root made into Pouder and mixed with Sugar and taken serveth to the same purposes and is also profitable for those that have their Urine stopped or the stopping of Womens Courses the pains of the Mother and of the Stone in the Reins Kidneys or Bladder It resisteth Poyson and stayeth the spreading of the Venom of Serpents as also of putrid and pestilential Feavers and the Plague it self The Roots and Herb beaten and put into new Ale or Beer and dayly drunk cleareth strengthneth and quickneth the Sight of the Eyes wonderfully The Decoction of the Roots in Wine or the Juyce taken therin killeth and driveth forth all manner of Worms in the Belly Stomach and Maw and gargled in the mouth or the Root chewed fastneth loos Teeth and helpeth to keep them from Putrefaction And being drunk is good for those that spit Blood helpeth to remove Cramps or Convulsions and the pains of the Gout the Sciatica the loosness and pains in the Joynts or those Members that are out of Joynt by cold or moisture hapning to them applied outwardly as well as inwardly and is good for those that are bursten or have any inward bruis The Roots boyled well in Vinegar beaten afterwards and made into an Oyntment with Hogs Suet or Oyl of Trotters is an excellent remedy for Scabs or Itch in yong or old The places also bathed or washed with the Decoction doth the same it also helpeth all sorts of filthy old putrid Sores or Cankers wheresoever In the Roots of this Herb lieth the chief effect for all the Remedies aforesaid The distilled Water of the Leavs and Roots together is very profitable to clens the Skin of the Face or other parts from any Morphew Spots or Blemishes therein and maketh it cleer Eringo or Sea-Holly ♀ ♎ Description THe first Leavs of our ordinary Sea-Holly are nothing so hard and prickly as when they grow old being almost round and deeply dented about the edges hard and sharp pointed and a little crumpled of a bluish green colour every one upon a long Footstalk but those that grow up higher with the Stalk do as it were compass it about The stalk it self is round and strong yet somwhat crested with Joynts and Leavs set therat but more divided sharp and prickle and branches rising from thence which have likewise other smaller Branches each of them bearing several bluish round prickly Heads with many smal jagged prickly Leavs under them standing like a Star and are somtimes found greenish or whitish The Root groweth wonderful long even to eight or ten Foot in length set with Rings or Circles toward the upper part but smooth and without Joynts down lower brownish on the outside and very white within with a pith in the middle of a pleasant tast but much more being artificially preserved and candy'd with Sugar Place It is found
about the Sea Coasts in almost every Country of this Land which bordereth upon the Sea Time It Flowreth in the end of Summer and giveth ripe Seed within a Month after Vertues and use The Decoction of the Root herof in Wine is very effectual to open the Obstructions of the Spleen and Liver and helpeth the yellow Jaundice the Dropsie the pains in the Loins and wind Chollick provoketh Urine and expelleth the Stone and procureth Womens Courses The continued use of the Decoction for 15. daies taken fasting and next to Bedward doth help the strangury the pissing by drops the stopping of Urine and Stone and all defects of the Reins or Kidneys and if the said drink be continued longer it is said that it perfectly cureth the Stone and that experience hath found it so It is found good against the French Pox. The Roots bruised and applied outwardly helpeth the Kernels of the Throat commonly called the Kings evil or taken inwardly and applied to the place stung or bitten by any Serpent healeth it speedily If the Roots be bruised and boyled in old Hogs greas or salted Lard and applied to broken Bones Thorns c. remaining in the Flesh doth not only draw them forth but healeth up the place again gathering new Flesh where it was consumed The Juyce of the Leavs dropped into the Ears helpeth Imposthumes therin The Distilled Water of the whol Herb when the Leavs and Stalks are yong is profitably drunk for all the purposes aforesaid and helpeth the Melancholly of the Heart and is available in Quartane and Quotidian Agues as also for them that have their Necks drawn awry and cannot turn them without turning their whol Body The Plant is Venerial and breedeth Seed exceedingly and strengthens the Spirit procreative it is hot and moist and under the Coelestial Ballance ☉ ♌ Eyebright Description THe common Eyebright is a small low Herb rising up usually but with one blackish green Stalk a span high or not much more spread from the bottom into sundry Branches wheron are set smal and and almost round yet pointed dark green Leavs finely snipped about the edges two alwaies set together and very thick At the Joynts with the Leavs from the middle upward come forth small white Flowers stryped with purple and yellow Spots or stripes after which follow small round Heads with very small Seed therin The Root is long small and threddy at the end Place It groweth in many Meadows and grassy places in this Land Vertues and Vse If this Herb were but as much used as it is neglected it would half spoil the Spectacle-makers Trade and a man would think that reason should teach people to prefer the prefervation of their Natural before Artificial Spectacles which that they may be instructed how to do take the Vertues of Eyebright as followeth The Juyce or distilled Water of Eyebright taken inwardly in white Wine or Broth or dropped into the Eyes for divers daies together helpeth all infirmities of the Eyes that caus dimness of Sight Some make a Conserv of the Flowers to the same effect Being used any of these waies it also helpeth a weak Brain or Memory This tunned up with strong Beer that it may work together and drunk Or the Pouder of the dried Herb mixed with Sugar a little Mace and Fennel Seeds and drunk or eaten in Broth Or the said Pouder made into an Electuary with Sugar and taken hath the same powerful effect to help and restore the Sight decaied through age And Arnoldus de villa nova saith It hath restored Sight to them that have been blind a long time before It is under the Sign of the Lyon and Sol claims Dominion over it ☿ Fern. Description OF this there are two kinds principally to be noted viz. The Male and Female The Female groweth higher than the Male but the Leavs therof are lesser more divided or dented of as strong a smel as the Male The Vertues of them are both alike and therfore I shall not trouble you with any further Description or distinction of them Place They both grow on Heaths and in shady places neer the Hedg sides in all Countries of this Land Time They flourish and give their Seed at Midsummer The Femal Fern is that plant which is In Sussex called Brakes the Seed of which some Authors hold to be so rare such a thing there is I know and may easily Be had upon Midsummer Eve and for ought yet I know two or three daies before or after if not more Vertues and Vse The Roots of both these sorts of Ferns being bruised and boyled in Mead or Honyed Water and drunk killeth both the broad and long Worms in the Body and abateth the Swelling and hardness of the Spleen The green Leavs eaten purgeth the Belly and Chollerick and waterish humors but it troubles the Stomach They are dangerous for Women with Child to meddle with by reason they caus abortment The Roots bruised and boyled in Oyl or Hogs greas maketh a very profitable Oyntment to heal Wounds or pricks gotten into the Flesh. The Pouder of them used in foul Ulcers drieth up their Malignant moisture and causeth their speedier healing Fern being burned the smoke therof driveth away Serpents Gnats and other noisom Creatures which in the Fenny Countries do in the night time trouble and molest people lying in their Beds with their Faces uncovered it causeth Barrenness Osmond Royal or Water Fern. ♄ Description THis shooteth forth in the Spring time for in the Winter the Leavs perish divers rough hard Stalks half round and hollowish or flat on the other side two Foot high having divers Branches of winged yellowish green Leavs on all sides set one against another longer narrower and not nicked on the edges as the former From the top of some of these Stalks grow forth a long Bush of smal and more yellowish green scaly aglets as it were set in the same manner on the Stalks as the Leavs are which are accounted the Flower and Seeds The Root is rough thick and Scaly with a white pith in the middle which is called the Heart therof Place It groweth on Moors Bogs and Watery places in many parts of this Land Time It is green all the Summer and the Root only abideth in Winter Vertues and Use. This hath all the Vertues mentioned in the former Ferns and is much more effectual than they both for inward and outward Griefs and is accounted singular good in Wounds Bruises or the like the Decoction to be drunk or boyled into an Oyntment or Oyl as a Balsom of Balm and so it is singular good against Bruises and Bones broken or out of joynt and giveth much eas to the Chollick and Splenetick Diseases as also for Ruptures or burstings The Decoction of the Root in white Wine provokes Urine exceedingly and clenseth the Bladder and passages of Urine ♀ Featherfew Description COmmon Featherfew
Flux and Womens Courses and is no â—ess prevalent in all Ruptures or Burstings being drunk inwardly and outwardly applied It is a Severaign Wound Herb inferior to none both for inward and outward Hurts green Wounds and old Sores and Ulcers are quickly cured therewith It is also of especial use in all Lotions for Sores or Ulcers in the Mouth Throat or privy parts of Man or Woman The Decoction also helpeth to fasten the Teeth that are loos in the Gums Venus claims the Herb and therefore to be sure it restores Beauty lost Goutwort or Herb-Gerrard Description THis is a low Herb seldom rising half a yard high having sundry Leavs standing on brownish green Stalks by threes snipped about and of a strong unpleasant savour The Umbels of Flowers are white and the Seed blackish the Root runneth in the Ground quickly taking up a great deal of room Place It groweth by Hedg and Wall sides and often in the borders or Corners of Fields and in Gardens also Time It Flowreth and Seedeth about the end of July Vertues and use Goutwort had not his name for nothing but upon good experience to help the cold Gout and Sciatica as also Joynt aches and other cold Griefs The very bearing of it about one easeth the pains of the Gout and defends him that bears it from the Diseas Gromel OF this I shall briefly describe three kinds which are principally used in Physick the Vertues whereof are alike though somwhat different in their manner and form of growing Description The greater Gromel groweth up with slender hard and hairy Stalks trailing and taking Root in the ground as it lieth thereon and parted into many other smaller Branches with hairy dark green Leavs thereon At the Joynts with the Leavs come forth very smal blew Flowers and after them hard stony roundish Seed The Root is long and woody abiding the Winter and shooting forth fresh Stalks in the Spring The smal wild Gromel sendeth forth divers upright hard branched Stalks two or three foot high full of Joynts at every of which groweth smal long hard and rough Leavs like the former but lesser among which Leavs come forth small white Flowers and after them grayish round Seed like the former The Root is not very long but with many Strings thereat The Garden Gromel hath divers upright slender woody hairy Stalks brown and crested very little branched with Leavs like the former and white Flowers after which in rough brown Husks is contained a white hard round Seed shining like Pearls greater than either of the former The Root is like the first described with divers Branches and Strings thereat which continueth as the first doth all Winter Place The two first grow wild in barren or untilled places and by the way sides in many places of this Land The last is a Nursling in the Gardens of the curious Time They all Flower from Midsummer unto September somtimes and in the mean time the Seed ripeneth Vertues and use These are accounted to be of as singular force as any other Herb or Seed whatsoever to break the Stone and to avoid it and the Gravel either in the Reins or Bladder as also to provoke Urine being stopped and to help the Strangury The Seed is of greatest use being bruised and boiled in white Wine or in Broth or the like or the Pouder of the Seed taken therin Two drams of the Seed in Pouder taken with Womens Breast-Milk is very effectual to procure a speedy Delivery to such Women as have sore pains in their Travail and cannot be delivered The Herb it self when the Seed is not to be had either boyled or the Juyce therof drunk is effectual to all the purposes aforelaid but not so powerful or speedy in operation The Herbe belongs to Dame Venus and therfore if Mars caus the Chollick or Stone as usually he doth if in Virgo this is your cure Winter Green Description THis sendeth forth 7. 8. or 9. Leaves from a smal brownish creeping Root every one standing upon a long Footstalk which are almost as broad as long round pointed of a sad green colour and hard in handling and like the Leaf of a Pear-tree from whence ariseth a slender weak Stalk yet standing upright bearing at the top many smal white and sweet smelling Flowers laid open like a Star consisting of five round pointed Leavs with many yellowish threds standing in the middle about a green Head and a long stile with them which in time groweth to be the Seed Vessel which being ripe is found five square with a smal point at it weerin is contained Seed as small as dust Place It groweth seldom in the Fields but frequently in the Woods Northwards viz. In Yorkshire Lancashire and Scotland Time It Flowreth about June or July Vertues and Vse Winter-Green is a singular good Wound Herb and an especial Remedy for to heal green Wounds speedily the green Leavs being brused and applied or the Juyce of them A Salve made of the green Herbs stamped or the Juyce boyled with Hogs Lard or with Sâ—llet Oyl and Wax and some Turpentine added unto it is a Soveragn Salve and highly extolled by the Germans who much use it to heal all manner of Wounds and Sores The Herb boyled in Wine and Water and given to drink to them that have any inward Ulcers in their Kidneys or Neck of the Bladder doth wonderfully help them It staieth also all Fluxes whether of Blood or Humors as the Lask Bloody Flux Womens Courses and bleeding of Wounds and taketh away any Inflamation rising upon pains of the Heart It is no less helpful for foul Ulcers hard to be cured as also for Cankers or Fistulaes The distilled Water of the Herb doth effectually perfrom the same things Groundsel Description OUr common Groundsel hath a round green and somwhat brownish Stalk spread toward the top into Branches set with long and somwhat narrow green Leavs cut in on the edges somwhat like the Oak Leavs but lesser and round at the ends at the tops of the Branches stand many smal green Heads out of which grow small yellow threds or thrums which are the Flowers and continue many daies blown in that manner before it pass away into Down and with the Seed is carried away in the wind The Root is smal and threddy and soon perisheth and as soon riseth again of its own sowing so that it may be seen many Months in the Yeer both green and in Flower and Seed for it will Spring and Seed twice in a yeer at least if it be suffered in a Garden Place This groweth almost every where as wel on the tops of Walls as at the foot among Rubbish and untilled grounds but especially in Gardens Time It Flowreth as is said before almost in every Month through the yeer Vertues and use The Decoction of the Herb saith Dioscorides made with Wine and Drunk `helpeth the pains in the Stomach proceeding
of Choller which it may well do by a Vomit as daily experience sheweth the Juyce hereof taken in Drink or the Decoction of it in Ale gently performeth the same It is good against the Jaundice and Falling-sickness being taken in Wine as also against difficulty of making Water it provoketh Urin expelleth Gravel in the Reins or Kidneys a dram thereof given in Oximel after some walking or stirring the Body It helpeth also the Sciatica griping of the Belly and the Chollick helpeth the defects of the Liver and provoketh Womens Courses The fresh Herb boyled and made into a Pultis and appled to the Breasts of Women that are swollen with pain and heat as also to the privy parts of Man or Woman the Seat or Fundament or the Arteries Joynts and Sinews when they are inflamed and swoln doth much eas them and used with some Salt helpeth to dissolve Knots or Kernels in any part of the Body The Juyce of the Herb or as Dioscorides saith the Leavs and Flowers with some fine Frankincense in Pouder used in Wounds of the Body Nervs or Sinews doth singularly help to heal them The Distilled Water of the Herb performeth well all the aforesaid Cures but especially for Inflamations or watering of the Eyes by reason of the Defluxion of Rhewm into them This Herb is Venus her Mrs. piece and is as gallant an Universal Medicine for all Diseases coming of heat whatsoever they be or in what part of the Body soever they lie as the Sun shines upon 't is very safe and friendly to the Body of Man yet causeth Vomiting if the Stomach be afflicted if not it purging and it doth it with more gentleness than can be expected 'T is moist and somwhat cold withal thereby causing expulsion and repressing the Heat caused by the motion of the internal parts in Purges and Vomits Lay by your Learned Receipts Take so much Senna so much Scammony so much Colocynthis so much Infusion of Crocus Metallorum c. This Herb alone preserved in a Syrup in a distilled Water in an Oyntment shal do the deed for you in all hot Diseases and it shall do it 1. Safely 2. Speedily Harts-Tongue Description THis hath divers Leavs â—â—ing from the Root every one severally which fold themselvs in their first springing and spreading when they are full grown are about a foot long smooth and green above but hard and with little Sap in them and straked on the back athwart on both sides of the middle Rib with smal and somwhat long brownish marks the bottoms of the Leavs are a little bowed on each side of the middle Rib somwhat narrow with the length and somwhat smal at the end The Root is of many black threds folded or interlaced together Time It is green all the Winter but new Leavs spring every yeer Vertues and Vse Harts-Tongue is much commended against the hardness and stoppings of the Spleen and Liver and against the heat of the Liver and Stomach and against Lasks and the Bloody Flux The Distilled Water therof is also very good against the Passions of the Heart and to stay the Hiccough to help the falling of the Pallat and stay the bleeding of the Gums being gagled in the mouth Dioscorides faith it is good against the stinging or biting of Serpents Jupiter claims Dominion over this Herb therfore is a singular Remedy for the Liver both to strengthen it when weak and eas it when afflicted 't is no matter by what you should do well to keep it in a Syrup all the yeer for though my Author say 't is green all the yeer I scarce beleev it As for the use of it my Directions at latter end will be sufficient and enough for those that are studious in Physick to whet their Brains upon for one year or two The Hazel Nut. THese are so well known to every Boy that they need no Description Vertues and Vse The parched Kernels made into an Electuary or the Milk drawn from the Kernels with Mead or Honeyed Water is very good to help an old Cough and being parched and a little Pepper put to them and drunk digesteth the Distillations of Rhewm from the Head The dried Husks and Shels to the weight of two drams taken in red Wine staieth Lasks and Womens Courses and so doth the red Skin that covers the Kernels which is more effectual to stay Womens Courses And if this be true as it is then why should the Vulgar so familiarly affirm that eating Nuts causeth shortness of Breath than which nothing is falser for how can that which strengthens the Lungues cause shortness of breath I confess the Opinion is far older than I am I knew Tradition was a Friend to Ertors before but never that he was the Father of Slanders or are mens tongues so given to slandering one another that they must slander Nuts too to keep their tongues in â—re If any thing of the Hazel Nut be stopping ' t is the Husks and Shels and no body is so mad to eat them unless Physically and the red Skin which covers the Kernel which you may easily pull off And thus have I made an Apology for Nuts which cannot speak for themselves Hawkweed Description This hath many large hairy leaves lying on the ground much rent or torn on the sides into many gashes like Dandelion but with greater parts more like the smooth sow Thistle from among w th ariseth a hollow rough stalk two or three foot high branched from the middle upward wherin are set at every Joynt longer leaves little or nothing rent or cut in bearing at their top sundrypale yellow Flowers consisting of many small narrow leavs broad pointed and nicked in at the ends set in a double row or more the outermost beeing larger than the inner which form most of the Hawkweeds for there are many kinds of them do hold which turne into down and with the small brownish seeds is blown away with the wind The Roote is long and somwhat greater with many small fibres thereat The whole is full of bitter milke Place It groweth in divers places about Field sides and the path waies in dry grounds Time It flowreth flies away in the SuÌ„merMonths Vertues and use Howkweed saith Dioscorides is cooling somwhat drying and binding and therfore good for the heat of the stomach and gnawings therein for Inflamations and the hot fits of Agues The Juice therof in wine helpeth digestion discusseth wind hindreth crudities abiding in the stomack and helpeth the difficulty of making Water the biting of Venemous Serpents and sting of the Scorpion if the herb be also outwardly applyed to the place and is very good against all other Poysons A scruple of the dryed Juyce given in wine and vinegar is profitable for those that have the Dropsie The decoction of the Herb taken with Honey digeisteth thin flegm in the chest or lungs and with Hysop helpeth the cough The Decoction therof and of wild
being rubbed thereupon It suffereth not Milk to curdle in the Stomach if the Leavs hereof be steeped or boyled in it before you drink it Briefly it is very profitable to the Stomach The often use hereof is a very powerful Medicine to stay Womens Courses and the Whites Applyed to the Forehead or Temples it easeth pains of the Head And is good to wash the Heads of yong Children therewith against all manner of breakings out Sores or Scabs therein and healeth the chops of the Fundament It is also profitable against the Poyson of Venemous Creatures The distilled Water of Mints is available to all the purposes aforesaid yet more weakly But if a Spirit thereof be rightly and Chimically drawn it is much more powerful than the Herb it self Simeon Sethi saith It helpeth a cold Liver strengthneth the Belly and Stomach causeth digestion staieth Vomit and the Hiccough is good against the Gnawings of the Heart provoketh Appetite taketh away Obstructions of the Liver and stirreth up Bodily Lust But thereof too much must not be taken becaus it maketh the Blood thin and wheyish and turneth it into Choller and therfore Chollerick persons must obstain from it It is is a safe Medicine for the biting of a Mad Dog being bruised with Salt and laid thereon The Pouder of it being dried and taken after Meat helpeth digestion and those that are Splenetick taken with Wine it helpeth Women in their Sore Travail in Child-hearing It is good against the Gravel and and Stone in the Kidneys and the Strangury Being smelled unto it is comfortable for the Head and Memory The Decoction thereof gargled in the Mouth cureth the Gums and Mouth that is sore and mendeth an ill savoured Breath as also with Rue and Coriander causeth the Pallat of the Mouth that is down to return to his place the Decoction being gargled and held in the Mouth The Vertues of the wild or Hors Mints such as grow in Ditches whose Description I purposely omitted in regard they are well enough known are especially to dissolve wind in the Stomach to help the Chollick and those that are short winded and are an especial Remedy for those that have Venerious Dreams and pollutions in the Night being outwardly applied to the Testicles or Cods The Juyce dropped into the Ears easeth the pains of them and destroyeth the Worms that breed therein They are good against the Venemous biting of Serpents The Juyce laid on warm helpeth the Kings Evil or Kernels in the Throat The Decoction or distilled Water helpeth a stinking Breath proceeding from the corruption of the Teeth and snuffed up into the Nose purgeth the Head Pliny saith That eating of the Leavs hath been found by experience to cure the Lepry and applying some of them to the Face and to help the Scurf or Dandrif of the Head used with Vinegar They are extream bad for wounded people and they say a wounded man that eats Mints his Wound will never be cured and that 's a long day Misselto Description THis riseth up from the Branch or Arm of the Tree whereon it groweth with a woody Stem parting it self into sundry Branches and they again devided into many other smaller Twigs interlacing themselves one within another very much covered with a grayish green Bark having two Leaves set at every Joynt and at the end likewise which are somwhat long and narrow smal at the bottom but broader toward the end At the Knots or Joynts of the Boughs and Branches grow smal yellowish Flowers which turn into smal round white transparant Berries three or four together full of glutinous moisture with a blackish Seed in every of them which was never yet known to spring being put into the ground or any where els to grow Place It groweth very rarely on Oaks with us but upon sundry other as well Timber as Fruit-Trees plentifully in Woods Groves and the like through all this Land Time It Flowreth in the Spring time but the Berries be not ripe until October and abide on the Branches all the Winter unless the Black-Birds and other Birds do devour them Vertues and Use. Both the Leavs and Berries of Misleto do heat and dry and are of subtil parts The Birdlime doth mollifie hard Knots Tumors and Impostumes ripeneth and discusseth them and draweth forth thick as well as thin Humors from the remote places of the Body digesting and separating them And being mixed with equal parts of Rozin and Wax doth mollifie the hardness of the Spleen and healeth old Ulcers and Sores Being mixed with Sandarack and Oâ—â—ment it helpeth to draw off-foul Nails and if quicklime and Wine Lees be added thereunto it worketh the stronger The Milleto it self of the Oak as the best made into Pouder and given in drink to those that have the Falling-sickness doth assuredly heal them as Mathiolus saith but it is fit to use it for forty daies together Some have so highly esteemed of the Vertues hereof that they have called it Lignam Sanctae Crucis Wood of the holy Cross beleeving it to help the Falling-sickness Apoplexie and Palsie very speedily not only to be inwardly taken but to be hung at their Necks Tragus saith That the fresh Wood of any Misleto bruised and the Juyce drawn forth and dropped into the Ears that have Impostumes in them doth help and eas them within a few daies That it is under the Dominion of the Sun I do not question and can also take for granted that that which grows upon Oaks participates somthing of the Nature of Jupiter becaus an Oak is one of his Trees as also that which grows upon Pear-trees and Apple-trees participates somthing of the Nature becaus he rules the Trees and it draws sap from the Trees it grows upon having no Root of its own but why that should have most vertues that grows upon Oaks I know not unless becaus 't is rarest and hardest to come by and our Colledges Opinion is in this contrary to the Scripture which saith Gods tender Mercies are over all his Works and so 't is Let the Colledg of Physitians walk as contrary to him as they pleas and that 's as contrary as the East is to the West Clusius affirms that which grows upon Pear-trees to be as prevalent and give order that it should not touch the ground after it is gathered and also saith That being hung about the Neck it remedies Witchcraft Money-wort or Herb Two-pence Description THe common Money-wort sendeth forth from a smal threddy Root divers long weak and slender Branches lying and running upon the ground two or three Foot long or more set with Leavs two at a Joynt one against another at equal distances which are almost round but pointed at the ends smooth and of a good green colour At the Joynts with the Leavs from the middle forward come forth at every Joynt somtimes one yellow Flower and somtimes two standing each on a smal Footstalk and made of five Leavs narrow and pointed at the ends with
of Serpents and for those that have taken Aconite The Leavs beaten with Vinegar is good to lay on any place that is burnt with fire A Decoction made of the Bark and Leavs is good to wash the Mouth and Teeth when they ach If the Root be a little slit or cut and a smal hole made in the ground next thereunto in the Harvest time it will give out a certain Juyce which being hardned the next day is of good use to help the Toothach to dissolve Knots and purge the Belly The Leavs of Mulberries are said to stay bleeding at Mouth or Nose or the Bleeding of the Piles or of a Wound being bound unto the places A Branch of the Tree taken when the Moon is at the full and bound to the Wrist of a Womans Arm whose Courses come down too much doth stay them in a short space Mercury rules the Tree therefore are its effects variable as his are Mullein Description THe common white Mullein hath many fair large woolly white Leavs lying next the ground somwhat longer than broad pointed at the ends and as it were dented about the edges The Stalk riseth up to be four or five Foot high covered over with such like Leavs but lesser so that no Stalk can be seen for the multitude of Leavs thereon up to the Flowers which come forth on all sides of the Stalk without any Branches for the most part and are many set together in a long spike in some of a gold yellow colour in others more pale consisting of five round pointed Leavs which afterwards give smal round Heads wherein is smal brownish Seed contained The Root is long white and Woody perishing after it hath born Seed Place It groweth by the way sides and in Lanes in many places of this Land Time It Flowreth in July or thereabouts Vertues and use A smal quantity of the Root given in Wine is commended by Dioscorides against Lasks and Fluxes of the Belly The Decoction thereof drunk is profitable for those that are Bursten and for Cramps and Convulsions and for those that are troubled with an old Cough The Decoction thereof gargled caseth the pains of the Toothach An Oyl made by the often Infusion of the Flowers is of very good effect for the Piles The Decoction of the Root in Red Wine or in Water if there be an Ague wherein red hot Steel hath been often quenched doth stay the Bloody Flux The same also openeth Obstructions of the Bladder and Reins when one cannot make water A Decoction of the Leavs hereof and of Sage Marjetom and Camomil Flowers and the places bathed therewith that have Sinews stark with cold or Cramps doth bring them much eas and comfort Three ounces of the distilled water of the Flowers drunk morning and evening for some daies together is said to be the most excellent Remedy for the hot Gout The Juyce of the Leavs and Flowers being laid upon rough Warts as also the Pouder of the dried Roots rubbed on doth easily take them away but doth no good to smooth Warts The Pouder of the dried Flowers is an especial Remedy for those that are troubled with belly-aches or the pains of the Chollick The Decoction of the Root and so likewise of the Leavs is of great effect to dissolve the Tumors Swellings or Inflamation of the Throat The Seed and Leavs boyled in Wine and applied draweth forth speedily Thorns or Splinters gotten into the Flesh easeth the pains and healeth them also The Leavs bruised and wrapped in double papers and covered with hot Ashes and Embers to bake a while and then taken forth and laid warm on any Botch or Boyl hapning in the Groyn or share doth dissolve and heal them The Seed bruised and boyled in Wine and laid on any Member that hath been out of Joynt and is newly set again taketh away all Swellings and pains thereof Mustard Description THe common Mustard hath large and broad rough Leavs very much jagged with uneven and unorderly gashes somwhat like Turnip Leavs but lesser and rougher The Stalk riseth to be more than a foot high and somtimes two foot high being round rough and branched at the top bearing such like Leavs thereon as grow below but lesser and less devided and divers yellow Flowers one above another at the tops after which come smal rough pods with smal lank flat ends wherein is contained round yellowish Seed sharp hot and biting upon the Tongue The Root is smal long and woody when it beareth Stalks and perisheth every yeer Place This groweth with us in Gardens only and other manured places Time It is an annual Plant Flowring in July and their Seed is ripe in August Vertues and use Mustard Seed hath the Vertue of Heating discussing rarefying and drawing out Splinters of Bones and other things out of the Flesh. It is of good effect to bring down Womens Courses for the Falling sickness or Lethargy drousie forgetful evil to use it both inwardly and outwardly to rub the Nostrils Forehead and Temples to warm and quicken the Spirits for by the fierce sharpness it purgeth the Brain by sneezing and drawing down Rhewm and other Viscuous Humors which by their Distillations upon the Lungs and Chest procure coughing and therefore with some Honey added thereto doth much good therein The Decoction of the Seed made in Wine and drunk provoketh Urine resisteth the force of Poyson the Malignity of Mushroms and the Venom of Scorpions or other Venemous Creatures if it be taken in time and taketh before the cold fits of Agues altereth lesseneth and cureth them The Seed taken either by it self or with other things either in an Electuary or Drink doth mightily stir up Bodily lust and helpeth the Spleen and pains in the sides and gnawing in the Bowels And used as a Gargle draweth up the Pallat of the Mouth being fallen down and also it dissolveth the Swellings abouâ— the Throat if it be outwardly applied Being chewed in the Mouth it oftentimes helpeth the Toothach The outward application hereof upon the pained place of the Sciatica discusseth the Humors and easeth the pains as also of the Gout and other Joynt aches And is much and often used to eas pains in the sides or loyns the shoulders or other parts of the Body upon the applying thereof to rais Blisters and cureth the Diseas by drawing it to the outward part of the Body It is also used to help the falling of the Hair The Seed bruised mixed with Honey and applied or made up with Wax taketh away the Marks and black and blue spots of Bruises or the like the roughness or Scabbedness of the Skin as also the Leprosie and lowsie evil it helpeth also the crick in the Neck The distilled Water of the Herb when it is in Flower is much used to drink inwardly to help in any the Diseases aforesaid or to wash the Mouth when the Pallat is down and for the Diseases of the Throat
good to wash either old rotten and stinking sores or Fistulaes and Gangrenes and such as are fretting eating or corroding Scabs Mainginess and Itch in any part of the Body as also green Wounds by washing them therwith or applying the green Herb bruised thereunto yea although the Flesh were seperated from the Bones The same applied to our wearied Members refresheth them or to places that have been out of Joynt being first set again strengthneth drieth and comforteth them as also those places troubled with Aches and Gouts and the Defluxion of Humors upon the Joynts or Sinews it easeth the pains and drieth or dissolveth the Defluxions An Oyntment made of the Juyce Oyl and a little Wax is singular good to rub cold and benummed Members An handful of the Leavs of green Nettles and another of Wallwort or Danewort bruised and applied simply of themselves to the Gout Sciatica or Joyntaches in any part hath been found to be an admirable help thereunto This also is an Herb Mars claims Dominion over you know Mars is hot and dry and you know as well that Winter is cold and moist then you may know as well the reason why Nettle tops eaten in Spring consume the Flegmatick superfluities in the Body of man that the coldness and moisture of Winter hath left behind Nightshade Description COmmon Nightshade hath an upright round green hollow stalk about a Foot or half a yard high bushing forth into many Branches whereon grow many green Leavs somwhat broad and pointed at the ends soft and full of Juyce somwhat like unto Bazil but larger and a little unevenly dented about the edges at the tops of the Stalks and Branches come forth three or four or more white Flowers made of five smal pointed Leavs apiece standing on a Stalk together one above another with yellow pointels in the middle composed of four of five yellow threds set together which afterwards turn into so many pendulous green Berries of the bigness of smal Pease full of green Juyce and smal whitish round flat Seed lying within it The Root is white and a little woody when it hath given Flower and Fruit with many smal Fibres at it The whol Plant is of a waterish insipide tast but the Juyce within the Berries is somwhat viscuous and of a cooling and binding quality Place It groweth wild with us under old Walls and in Rubbish the common paths and sides of Hedges and Fields as also in our Gardens here in England without any planting Time It dieth down every yeer and ariseth again of its own sowing but springeth not until the latter end of April at the soonest Vertues and Use. This Common Nightshade is wholly used to cool all hot Inflamations either inwardly or outwardly being no way dangerous to any that shall use it as most of the rest of the Nightshades are yet it must be used modeâ—â—ly The distilled water only of the whol Herb is fittest and safest to be taken inwardly The Juyce also clarified and taken being mingled with a little Vinegar is good to wash the Mouth and Throat that is inflamed But outwardly the Juyce of the Herb or Berries with Oyl of Roses and a little Vinegar and Ceruss labored together in a leaden Morter is very good to anoint all hot Inflamations in the Eyes It doth also much good for the Shingles Ringworms and in all running fretting and corroding Ulcers and in moist Fistulaes if the Juyce be made up with some Hens dung and applied thereto A Pessary dipp'd in the Juyce and put up into the Matrix stayeth the immoderate Flux of Womens Courses A Cloth wet therein and applied to the Testicles or Cods upon any Swelling therein giveth much eas as also to the Gout that cometh of hot and sharp Humors The Juyce dropped into the Ears easeth pains therin that arise of heat or Inflamation And Pliny saith it is good for hot Swellings under the Throat Have a care you mistake not the deadly Nightshade for this if you know it not you may let them both alone and take no harm having other Medicines sufficient in the Book The Oak THis is so well known the Timber thereof being the Glory and Safety of this Nation by sea that it needeth no Description Vertues and use The Leavs and Bark of the Oak and the Acorn Cups do bind and dry very much The inner Bark of the Tree and the thin Skin that covereth the Acorn are most used to stay the spitting of Blood and the Bloody Flux The Decoction of that Bark and the Pouder of the Cups to stay Vomitings spitting of blood bleeding at Mouth or other Flux of Blood in man or woman Lasks also and the involuntary Flux of Natural Seed The Acorns in Pouder taken in Wine pravoketh Urine and resisteth the Poyson of Venemous Creatures The Decoction of Acorns and the Bark made in Milk and taken resisteth the force of Poysonous Herbs and Medicines as also the Virulency of Cantharides when one by eating them hath his Bladder exulcerated and pisseth Blood Hippocrates saith he used the fumes of Oak Leavs to Woman that were troubled with the strangling of the Mother and Oalen applied them being bruised to cure green Wounds The Distilled water of the Oaken Buds before they break out into Leavs is good to be used either inward or outwardly to asswage Inflamations and stop all manner of Fluxes in man or woman The same is singular good in Pestilential and hot burning Feavers for it resisteth the force of the infection and allayeth the heat it cooleth the heat of the Liver breaketh the Stone in the Kidneys and staieth womens Courses The Decoction of the Leavs worketh the same effects The water that is found in the hollow places of old Oaks is very effectual against any foul or spreading Scab The Distilled Water or Decoction which is better of the Leavs is one of the best Remedies that I know for the Whites in Women Jupiter owns the Treo Oats THese are also so well known that they need no Description Vertues and Use. Oats fryed with Bay-Salt and applied to the sides takes away the pains of Stitches and Wind in the sides or Belly A Pultis made of the Meal of Oats and some Oyl of Bays put thereto helpeth the Itch and the Leprosie as also the Fistulaes of the Fundament and dissolveth hard Imposthumes The Meal of Oats boyled with Vinegar and applied taketh away Freckles and Spots in the Face or other parts of the Body One-blade Description THis smal Plant never beareth more than one Leaf but only when it riseth up with his Stalk which thereon beareth another and seldom more which are of a blewish green colour pointed with many Ribs or Veins therein like Plantane At the top of the Stalk grow many smal white Flowers Star-fashion smelling somwhat sweet after which come smal reddish Berries when they are ripe The Root is small of the bigness of a Rush lying and creeping under
Bark of the Root taken in Wine performeth effectually Mathiolus saith the same helpeth the Diseas called Hiernia Carnosa the Fleshy Rupture by taking the said Pouder for some Months together constantly and that it hath cuted some which seemed incurable by any other means than by cutting or burning The Decoction thereof made with some Vinegar and gargled in the Mouth easeth the Toothach especially when it comes of Rhewm and the said Decoction is very powerful to open Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen and other parts A Distilled Water made in Balneo Mariae with four pound of the Roots hereof first sliced smal and afterwards steeped in a Gallon of Canary Wine is singular good for all the purposes aforesaid and to clens the passages of the Urine The Pouder of the said Root made into an Electuary or Lozenges with Sugar as also the Bark of the fresh Roots boyled tender and afterwards beaten Into a Consetve with Sugar worketh the like effect The Pouder of the Roots strewed upon the Brims of Ulcers or mixed with any other convenient thing and applied consumeth the hardness and canseth them to heal the better Rocket IN regard the garden Rocket is rather used as a Sallet Herb than to any Physical purposes I shall omit it and only speak of the common wild Rocket The Description whereof take as followeth Description The common wild Rocket hath longer and narrower Leavs much more devided into slender cuts and jags on both sides of the middle Rib than the Garden kinds have of a sad overworn green colour from among which riseth up divers stiff Stalks two or three foot high somtimes set with the like Leavs but smaller and smaller upwards branched from the middle into divers stiff Stalks bearing sundry yeilow Flowers on them made of four Leavs apiece as the others are which afterwards yield smal reddish Seed in smal long Pods of a more bitter and hot biting tast than the Garden kinds as the Leavs are also Place It is found wild in divers places of this Land Time It Flowreth about June and July and the Seed is ripe in August Vertues and Use. The Wild Rocket is more strong and effectual to encreas Sperm and Venereous qualities whereunto also the Seed is more effectual than the Garden kinds It serveth also to help Digestion and provoketh Urine exceedingly The Seed is used to cure the bitings of Serpents the Scorpion and the Shrew-Mouse and other Poysons and expelleth Worms and other noisom Creatures that breed in the Body The Herb boyled or stewed and some Sugar put thereto helpeth the Cough in Children being taken often The Seed also taken in drink taketh away the ill scent of the Armpits encreaseth Milk in Nurses and wasteth the Spleen The Seed mixed with Honey and used on the face clenseth the Skin from Spots Morphew and other discolourings therein and used with Vinegar taketh away Freckles and redness in the Face or other parts and with the Gall of an Ox it amendeth foul Scars black and blew Spots and the marks of the smal Pox. The Wild Rockets are forbidden to be used alone in regard their sharpness fumeth into the Head causing ach and pain therein and are no less hurtful to hot and Chollerick persons for fear of inflaming their Blood and therefore for such we may say a little doth but a little harm For angry Mars rules them and he somtimes will be testy when he meets with Focls Winter Rocket or Cresses Description VVInter Rocket or winter Cresses hath diverse somwhat large sad green Leavs lying upon the ground torn or cut into divers parts somwhat like unto Rocket or Turnep Leavs with smaller pieces next the bottom and broad at the ends which so abide all Winter if it spring up in Autumn when it is used to be eaten from among which riseth up divers smal round Stalks full of branches bearing many smal yellow Flowers of four Leavs apiece after which come smal long Pods with reddish Seed in them The Root is somwhat stringy and perisheth every yeer after the Seed is ripe Place It groweth of its own accord in Gardens and Fields by the way sides in diverse places and particularly in the next Pasture to the Conduit-Head behind Grayes-Inne that brings Water to Mr. Lamb's Conduit in Holbourn Time It Flowreth in May and Seedeth in June and then perisheth Vertues and Use. This is profitable to provoke Urine and helpeth the Strangury and to expel Gravel and the Stone It is also of good effect in the Scurvey It is found by experience to be a singular good Wound Herb to clense inward Wounds the Juyce or Decoction being drunk or outwardly applied to wash foul Ulcers and Sores clensing them by sharpness and hindring or abating the dead Flesh from growing therein and healing them by the drying quality Roses I Hold it altogether needless to trouble the Reader with a Description of any of these sith both the Garden Roses and the Wild Roses of the Bryars are well enough known Take therefore the Vertues of them as followeth And first I shal begin with the Garden kinds Vertues and Use. The White and the Red Roses are cooling and drying yet the White is taken to exceed the Red in both those properties but is seldom used inwardly in any Medicine The bitterness in the Roses when they are fresh especially the Juyce purgeth Choller and watery Humors but being dried and that heat which caused the bitterness being consumed they have then a binding and astringent quality Those also that are not ful blown do both cool and bind more than those that are full blown and the White Roses more than the Red. The Decoction of Red Roses made with Wine and used is very good for the Headach and pains in the Eyes Ears Throat and Gums as also for the Fundament the lower Bowels and the Matrix being bathed or put into them The same Decoction with the Roses remaining in it is profitably applyed to the Region of the Heart to eas the Inflamation therin as also St. Anthonies fire and other Diseases of the Stomach Being dried and beaten to Pouder and taken in steeled Wine or Water it helpeth to stay Womens Courses The yellow threds in the middle of the red Roses which are erroniously called the Rose Seeds being poudered and drunk in the distilled water of Quinces stayeth the overflowing of Womens Courses and doth wonderfully stay the Defluxions of Rhewm upon the Gums and Teeth preserving them from corruption and fastning them if they be loose being washed and gargled therewith and some Vinegar of Squils added thereto The Heads with Seed being used in Pouder or in a decoction stayeth the Lask and spitting of Blood Red Roses do strengthen the Heart the Stomack and the Liver and the retentive Faculties they mitigate the pains that arise from Heat asswage Inflamations procure rest and sleep stay both Whites and Reds in Women the Gonorrhea running of the
and to expel crude and raw humors from the Belly and Stomach by the sweet savor and warming quality it dissolveth the inward congealed Blood hapning by falls or bruises and the spitting of Blood if the Roots either green or dryed be boyled in Wine and drunk as also al manner of inward Wounds or outward if they be washed or bathed therwith The Decoction also being drunk comforteth the Heart and strengtheneth the Stomach and a cold Brain and therfore is good in the Spring time to open Obstructions of the Liver and helpeth the wind Chollick it also helpeth those that have Fluxes or are bursten or have a Rupture It taketh away spots or marks in the Face being washed therwith The Juyce of the fresh Root or Pouder of the dried Root hath the same effect with the Decoction The Root in the Spring time steeped in Wine doth give it a delicat savor and tast and being drunk fasting every morning comforteth the Heart and is a good Preservative against the Plague or any other Poyson it helpeth Digestion and warmeth a cold Stomach and openeth the Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen It is very safe you need have no Dose prescribedâ— and is very fit to be kept in every good bodies house ♃ ♋ Balm THis Herb is so wel known to be an Inhabitant almost in every Garden that I shal not need to write any Description thereof although the Vertues thereof which are many may not be omitted Vertues and use The Arabian Physitians have extolled the Vertues hereof to the Skyes although the Greeks thought it not worth mentioning Seâ—apio saith It causeth the Mind and Heart to becom merry and reviveth the Heart fainting into soundings especially of such who are over taken in their sleep and driveth away al troublesom cares and thoughts out of the Mind arising from Melancholly or black Choller which Avicen also confirmeth It is very good to help Digestion and open Obstructions of the Brain and hath so much purging quality in it saith Avicen as to expel those Melancholly vapors from the Spirits Blood which are in the Heart and Arteries although it cannot do so in other parts of the Body Diascorides saith That the Leaves steeped in Wine and the Wine drunk and the Leavs externally applied is a remedy against the sting of Scorpions and the bitings of mad Dogs and commendeth the Decoction therof for Women to bath or sit in to procure their Courses it is good to wasâ—â—aching Teeth therwith and profitable for those that have the bloudy-Flux The Leaves also with a little Nitre taken in Drink are good against a Surfet of Mushromes helps the griping pains of the Belly and being made into an Electuary is good for them that cannot fetch their breath Used with Salt it takes away Wens Kernels or hard Swellings in the Flesh or Throat it clenseth foul Sores and caseth pains of the Gout It is good for the Liver and Spleen A Tansie or Cawdle made with Egs and the Juyce therof while it is yong putting to it some Sugar and Rosewater is good for Women in Childbed when the After-birth is not thronghly avoided and for their faintings upon or after their sore travel The Herb bruised and boyled in a little Wine and Oyl and laid warm on a Boil will ripen and break it It is an Herb of Jupiter and under Cancer and strengthens Nature much in al its actions let a Syrup made with the Juyce of it and Sugar as you shall be taught at the latter end of the Book be kept in every Gentlewomans house to releeve the weak stomachs and sick Bodies of their poor sickly Neighbors as also the Herb kept dry in the Hous that so with other convenient Simples you may make it into an Electuary with Hony according as the Diseas is and as you shall be taught at the latter end of the Book ♂ Barberry THe Shrub is so wel known to every Boy and Girl that hath but attained to the age of seven years that it needs no Description Vertues and use Mars owns the Shrub and presents it to the use of my Country-men to purge their Bodies of Choller The inner Rind of the Barberry Tree boyled in White-Wine and a quarter of a pint drunk each morning is an excellent remedy to clense the Body of Chollerick Humors and free it from such Diseases as Choller canseth such be Scabs Itch Tetters Ringworms yellow Jaundice Boils c. It is excellent for hot Agues Burnings Scaldings heat of Bloud heat of the Liver Bloudy-flux for the Berries are as good as the Bark and more pleasing they get a man a good stomach to his victuals by strengthning the attractive faculty which is under Mars as you see more at large in the latter end of my Ephemeris for the year 1651. The Hair washed with the Ly made of the Ashes of the Tree and Water 't wil make it turn yellow viz. of Mars his own colour The Fruit and Rind of the Shrub the Flowers of Broom and of Hâ—ath or Furz clens the Body of Choller by Sympathy as the Flowers Leaves and Bark of the Peach-Tree do by Antipathy because these are under Mars that under Venus ♄ Barly THe continual usefulness hereof hath made al in general so aquainted herewith that it is altogether needless to describe its several kinds hereof plentifully growing being yearly sown in this Land The Vertues whereof take as followeth Vertues and use Barly in al the parts and compositions therof except Malt is more cooling than Wheat and a little clensing and al the Preparations therof as Barly-water and other things made therof do give great nourishment to persons troubled with Feavers Agues and heats in the Stomach A Pultis made of Barly Meal or Flower boyled with Vinegar and Honey and a few dry Figs put into them dissolveth all hard Imposthums and aswageth Inflamations being therto applied And being boyled with Melilot and Chamomel Flowers and som Linseed Fenngreek and Rue in Pouder and applied warm it easeth the pains in the Sides and Stomach and windiness of the Spleen The Meal of Barly and Fleawort boyled in Water and made into a Pultis with Honey and Oyl of Lillies applied warm cureth swellings under the Ears Throat Neck and such like and a Plaister made therof with Tar Wax Oyl helpeth the Kings-Evil in the Throat Boyled with sharp Vinegar into a Pultis and laid on hot helpeth the Leprosie Being boyled in red-Wine with Pomgranat Rinds and Mirtles stayeth the Lask or other Flux of the Belly Boyled with Vinegar and a Quince it easeth the hot pains of the Gout Barly flower white Salt Honey and Vinegar mingled together taketh away the Itch speedily and certainly The Water distilled from the green Barly in the end of May is very good for thos that have Defluxions of humors fallen into their Eyes and easeth the pains being dropped into them or White-Bread steeped therein and bound on to the Eyes
put into the Nostrils purgeth the Head helpeth the nois in the Ears and the Tooth-ach the Juyce snuffed up the Nose helps a stinking Breath if the caus lies in the Nose as many times it doth if any bruis have been there as also want of smel coming that way Water-Betony ♃ ♋ Description FIrst of the Water-Betony which riseth up with square hard greenish Stalks and somtimes brown set with broad dark green Leavs dented about the edges with notches somwhat resembling the Leavs of the Wood-Betony but much larger two for the most part set at a Joynt The Flowers are many set at the tops of the Stalks and Branches being round bellied and open at the Brims and divided into two parts the uppermost being like a Hood and the lowest like a Lip hanging down of a dark red colour which passing away there comes in their places smal round Heads with smal points in the ends wherin lie smal and brownish Seeds The Root is a thick Bush of strings and threds growing from an Head Place It groweth by Ditchsides Brooks and other Water-courses generally through this Land and is seldom found far from the Waters sides Time It Flowreth about July and the Seed is ripe in August Vertues and Use. It is of a clensing quality the Leavs bruised and applied are effectual for all old and filthy Ulcers and especially if the Juyce of the Leavs be boyled with a little Honey and tents dipped therin and the Sores dressed therwith as also for Bruises or Hurts whether inward or outward The distilled water of the Leaves is used for the same purposes as also to bath the Face or Hands spotted or blemished or discolored by Sunburning I confess I do not much fancy distilled Waters I mean such Waters as are distilled cold some vertue of the Herb they may happliy have it were a strange thing else but this I am confident of that being distilled in a Pewter Stil as the vulgar and apish fashion is both Chymical Oyl and Salt is left behind unless you burn them and then all is spoiled Water and al which was good for as little as can be by such a Distillation You have the best way of Distillation in my Translation of the London Dispensatory The Colledg of Physitians having as much skil in Distillations as an Ass hath reading Hebrew Water-Betony is an Herb of Jupiter in cancer and is apropriated more to Wounds and Hurts in the Breast than Wood-Betony which follows ♃ ♈ Wood-Betony Description THe Common or Wood-Betony hath many Leavs rising from the Root which are somwhat broad and round at the ends roundly dented about the edges standing upon long Footstalks from among which rise up smal square slender but yet upright hairy Stalks with some Leaves thereon two apiece at the Joynts smaller than the lower whereon are set several spiked Heads of Flowers like Lavender but thicker and shorter for the most part and of a reddish or purple colour spotted with white spots both in the upper and lower part The Seeds being contained within the Husks that hold the Flowers are blackish somwhat long and uneven The Roots are many white threddy strings the Stalk perisheth but the Root with some Leavs theron abides al the Winter The whol Plant is somwhat smal Place It groweth frequently in Woods and delighteth in Shady-places Time And it flowreth in July after which the Seed is quickly ripe yet in its prime in May. Vertues and Vse Antonius Musa physitian to the Emperor Augustus caesar wrote a peculiar Book of the Vertues of this Herb and amongst other Vertues saith of it That it preserveth the Lives and Bodies of Men free from the danger of Epidemical Diseases and from Wicchcrafts also It is found by daily experience to be good for many Diseases It helpeth those that loath or cannot digest their Meat those that have weak Stomachs or sower belchings or continual rising in their Stomach using it familiarly either green or dry either the Herb the Root or the Flowers in Broth drunk or Meat or made into Conserve Syrup Water Electuary or Pouder as every one may best frame themselvs unto or as the time or season requireth taken any of the aforesaid waies It helpeth the Jaundice Falling-sickness the Palsie Convulsions or shrinking of the Sinews the Gout and those that are inclined to Dropsies those that have continual Pains in their Head although it turn to Phrensie The Pouder mixed with pure Honey is no less available for al sorts of Coughs or Colds Wheesing or shortness of Breath Distillations of thin Rhewm upon the Lungues which causeth Consumptions The Decoction made with Mead and a little Penyroyal is good for those that are troubled with putrid Agues whether Quotidian Tertian or Quartan and to draw down and evacuate the Blood and humors that by falling into the Eyes do hinder the Sight The Decoction therof made in Wine and taken killeth the Worms in the Belly openeth Obstructions both of the Spleen and Liver careth Stitches and Pains in the Back or Sides the Torments and griping pains of the Bowels and the wind Chollick and mixed with Honey purgeth the Belly helpeth to bring down Womens Courses and is of especial use for those that are troubled with the falling down of the Mother and pains therof and causeth an easie and speedy delivery of Women in Childbirth it helpeth also to break and expel the Stone either in the Bladder or Kidneys The Decoction with Wine gargled in the Mouth easeth the Toothach It is commended against the sting or biting or Venemous Serpents or Mad Dogs Being used inwardly and applied outwardly to the place A dram of the Pouder in Betony taken with a little Honey in some Vinegar doth wonderfully refresh those that are overwearied by travail it staieth bleedings at the Mouth or Nose and helpeth those that pise or spit Blood and those that are Bursten or have a Rupture and is good for such as are bruised by any fall or otherwise The green Herb bruised or the Juyce applied to any inward hurt or outward green Wound in the Head or Body wil quickly heal and close it up as also any Veins or Sinews that are cut and will draw forth any broken Bone or Splinter Thorn or other thing gotten into the Flesh It is no less profitable for old Sores or filthy Ulcers yea though they be Fistulaus and hollow but some do advise to put in a little Salt to this purpose Being applied with a little Hogs Lard it helpeth a Plague-Sore and other Boyls and Pushes The fumes of the Decoction while it is warm received by a Funnel into the Bars caseth the pains of them destroyeth the Worms and cureth the running Sores in them The Juyce dropped into them doth the same The Root of Betony is displeasing both to the tast and Stomach whereas the Leavs and Flowers by their sweet and spicy tast are comfortable both in Meat and Medicine There are some of the many
Stalks and Joynts set with broader and more hairy Leavs divided into sundry parts nicked about the edges and of a darker green colour which likewise grow reddish with the Stalks at the tops wherof stand smal white tufts of Flowers afterwards smaler and longer seed The Root is white hard and enduring long This hath little or no scent Place The first is sown in Gardens for a Sallet-Herb The second groweth wild in many of the Meadows of this Land and by the Hedg-sides and on Heaths Time They flower and seed early and thereupon are sown again in the end of Summer Vertues and use The Garden Chervil being eaten doth moderately warm the Stomach and is a certain remedy saith Tragus to dissolve congealed or clotted Bloud in the Body or that which is clotted by bruises fals c. The Juyce or distilled Water therof being drunk and the bruised Leavs laid to the place being taken either in meat or drink it is held good to provoke Urin to expel the Stone in the Kidnies to send down Womens Courses and to help the Plurisie and prickings of the Sides The wild Chervil bruised and applied dissolveth Swellings in any part of the Body and taketh away the Spots and Marks of congealed Blood by Bruises or Blows in a little space Sweet Chervil OR ♃ Sweet Cicely Description THis groweth very like the greater Hemlock having large spread Leavs cut into diverse parts but of a fresher green colour than the Hemlock tasting as sweet as the Anniseed The Stalk riseth up a yard high or better being crested or hollow having the like Leavs at the Joynts but lesser and at the tops of the branched Stalks Umbels or Tufts of white Flowers after which com large and long crested black shining Seed pointed at both ends tasting quick yet sweet and pleasant The Root is great and white growing deep in the ground and spreading sundry long Branches therein in tast and smel stronger than the Leavs or Seed and continuing many years Place This groweth in Gardens Vertues This whol Plant besides its pleasantness in Sallets hath also his Physical Vertues The Root boyled and eaten with Oyl and Vinegar or without Oyl doth much pleas and warm an old and cold Stomach oppressed with wind or flegm or those that have the Phtisick or Consumption of the Lungs The same drunk with Wine is a preservative from the Plague it provoketh Womens Courses and expelleth the After-birth procureth and appetit to meat and expelleth Wind. The Juyce is good to heal the Ulcers of the Head and Face The candied Roots hereof are held as effectual as Angelica to preserv from Infection in the time of a Plague and to warm and comfort a cold weak Stomach It is so harmless you cannot use it amâ—ss ♀ Chickweed Description THis is generally known to most People I shal therfore not trouble you with the Description therof nor my self with setting fourth the several kinds sith but only two or three are considerable for their usefulness Place These are usually found in moist and watry places by Wood sides and els-where Time They flower about June and their Seed is ripe in July Vertues and use It is found to be as effectual as Purslane to al the purposes whereunto it serveth except for meat only The Herb bruised or the Juyce applied with cloaths or spunges dipped therein to the Region of the Liver and as they dry to have fresh applied doth wonderfully temper the heat of the Liver and is effectual for all Imposthums and Swellings wheresoever for all redness in the Face Wheals Pushes Itch Scabs the Juyce either simply used or boyled with Hogs-Greas and applied the same helpeth Cramps Convulsions and Palsies The Juyce or distilled Water is of much good use for al heat and redness in the Eyes to drop som therof into them as also into the Ears to ease pains in them and is of good effect to ease the pains the heat and sharpness of Blood in the Piles and generally al pains in the Body that arise of heat it is used also in hot and virulent Ulcers and sores in the privy parts of Man or Woman or on the Legs or els-where The Leavs boyled with Marsh-Mallows and made into a Pultis with Fenugreek and Linseed applied to Swellings or Imposthumes ripeneth and breaketh them or swageth the swellings and easeth the pains It helpeth the Sinews when they are shrunk by Cramps or otherwise and to extend and make them pliable again by this Medicine Boyl an handful of Chickweed and a handful of Red-Rose Leavs dryed but not distilled in a Quart of Muscadine until a fourth part be consumed then put to them a pint of the Oyl of Trotters or Sheeps-feet let them boyl a good while still stirring them wel which being strained anoint the grieved place herewith warm against a fire rubbing it wel in with ones hand and bind also some of the Herb if you wil to the place and with Gods blessing it will help in three times dressing Cich-Peas or Cicers ♀ Description THe Garden sorts whether Red Black or White brings forth Stalks a yard long wheron do grow many smal and almost round Leavs dented about the edges set on both sides of a middle Rib at the Joynts come forth one or two Flowers upon short Footstalks Peas fashion either white or whitish or purplish red lighter or deeper according as the Peas that follow will be that are contained in smal thick and short Pods wherin lie one or two Peas more usually a little pointed at the lower end and almost round at the Head yet a little corner'd or sharp The Root is smal and perisheth yeerly Place and Time They are sown in Gardens or the Fields as Peas being sown later than Peas and gathered at the same time with them or presently after Vertues and use They are no less windy than Beans but nourish more they provoke Urine and are thought to encreas Sperm they have a clensing faculty wherby they break the Stones in the Kidneys To drink the cream of them being boyled in Water is the best way it moveth the Belly downwards provoketh Womens Courses and Urin and encreaseth both Milk and Seed One ounce of Cicers two ounces of French Barley and a smal handful of Marsh-Mallow Roots clean washed and cut being boyled in the broth of a Chicken and four ounces taken in the morning and fasting two hours after is a good Medicine for a pain in the Sides The white Cicers are used more for Meat than Medicine yet have they the same effects and are thought more powerful to encreas Milk and Seed The wild Cicers are so much more powerful than the Garden kinds by how much they exceed them in heat and driness whereby they do more open Obstructions break the Stone and have al the properties of cutting opening digesting and dissolving and this more speedily and certainly than the former Cinkfoyl or Five Leaved ♃
whence to the top it is stored with large and long hollow reddish Purple Flowers a little more long and eminent at the lower edg with some white Spots within them one above another with smal green Leavs at every one but all of them turning their Heads one way and hanging downwards having some threds also in the middle from whence rise round Heads pointed sharp at the ends wherein smal brown Seed lieth The Roots are many smal Huskie Fibres and some greater strings among them The Flower hath no scent but the Leavs have a bitter hot tast Place It groweth on the dry sandy Grounds for the most part and as well on the higher as lower places under Hedg-sides in almost every County of this Land Time It seldom Flowreth before July and the Seed is ripe in August Vertues and use This Herb is familiarly and frequently used by the Italians to heal any fresh or green Wound the Leavs being but bruised and bound thereon and the Juyce therof is also used in old Sores to clens dry and heal them The Decoction hereof made up with some Sugar or Honey is available to clens and purge the Body both upwards and downwards somtimes of tough Flegm and clammy Humors and to open Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen It hath been found by experience to be available for the Kings Evil the Herb bruised and applied or an Oyntment made with the Juyce thereof and so used And a Decoction of two handfuls therof with four Ounces of Polipody in Ale hath been found by late experience to cure divers of the Falling-sickness that have been troubled with it above twenty yeers My self am confident that an Oyntment of it is one of the best Remedies for a Scabby Head that is Fumitory Description OUr common Fumitory is a tender sappy Herb sending forth from one square slender weak Stalk and leaning downwards on all sides many Branches two or three foot long with finely cut and jagged Leavs of a whitish or rather Blewish Seagreen colour At the tops of the Branches stand many small Flowers as it were in a long spike one above another made like little Birds of a reddish Purple colour with whitish Bellies After which come small round Husks containing smal black Seed The Root is yellow smal and not very long ful of Juyce while it is green But quickly perishing with the ripe Seed In the Corn Fields in Cornwal this beareth white Flowers Place It groweth in the Corn Fields almost every where as well as in Gardens Time It Flowreth in May for the most part and the Seed ripeneth shortly after Vertues and Vse The Juyce or Syrup made thereof or the Decoction made in Whey by it self with some other purging or opening Herbs and Roots to caus it to work the better it self being but weak is very effectual for the Liver and Spleen opening the Obstructions thereof and clarifying the Blood from Saltish Chollerick and Adust Humors which caus Lepry Scabs Tetters and Itches and such like breakings out of the Skin and after the Purging doth strengthen all the inward parts it is good also against the yellow Jaundice and spendeth it by Urin which it procureth in abundance The Pouder of the dried Herb given for some time together cureth Melancholly but the Seed is strongest in operation for all the former Diseases The dististilled Water of the Herb is also of good effect in the former Diseases and conduceth much against the Plague and Pestilence being taken with good Treacle The Distilled Water also with a little Water and Honey of Roses helpeth all the Sores of the Mouth or Throat being gargled often therwith The Juyce dropped into the Eyes cleareth the Sight and taketh away redness and other defects in them although it procure some pain for the present and cause Tears Dioscorides saith it hindreth any fresh springing of hairs on the Eyelids also they be pulled away if the Eyelids be anointed with the Juyce hereof with Gum Arabick dissolved therin The Juyce of Fumitory aud Docks mingled with Vinegar and the places gently washed or wet therwith cureth all sorts of Scabs Pimples Itches Wheals or Pushes which arise on the Face or Hands or any other part of the Body Saturn owns the Herb and presents it to the World as a Cure for his own Diseases and a strengthner of the parts of the Body he rules If by my Astrological Judgment of Diseases from the Decombiture you find Saturn Author of the Diseas or if by Direction from a Nativity you fear a Saturnine Diseas approaching you may by this Herb prevent it in the one and cure it in the other and therfore 't is fit you keep a Syrup of it alwaies by you The Furs-Bush THis is so well known as well by this name as in some Countries by the name Gors that I shal not need to write any Description therof my intent being to teach my Country men what they know not rather than to tell them again of that which is generally known before Place They are known to grow on dry barren Heaths and other wast gravelly or sandy grounds in all Countries of this Land Time They also Flower in the Summer Months Vertues and use They are hot and dry good to open Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen A Decoction made with the Flowers therof hath been found effectual against the Jaundice as also to provoke Urine and clens the Kidneys from Gravel or Stones ingender'd in them It is a Plant of Mars and doth all this by Sympathy Garlick THe offensivenes of the breath of him that hath eaten Garlick will leade you by the Nose to the knowledg hereof and in stead of a description direct you to the place wher it groweth in Gardens which kinds are the best and most Phisical Vertues and use This was antiently accounted the Poormans Treacle it beeing a remedy for all diseases or hurts except those which it self breeds It provoketh Urine and womens Courses helpeth the biting of a Mad Dog and of other Venemous Creatures killeth Wormes in Childern cutteth and avoydeth tough flegm purgeth the head helpeth the Lethargie is a good preservative against a remedy for any Plague sore or soul Ulcer taketh away spots and blemishes in the Skin easeth pains of the eares ripeneth and breaketh Impestumes or other swelling And for all these diseases the Onyons are also effectual But the Garlick hath some more peculiar vertues besides the former Viâ— It hath a speciall quality to discuss the inconveniences coming by corn pt Agues or Mineral Vapours or by drinking corrupt and stinking waters As elso by taking of Wolf-bane Henbane Hemlock or other poysonfull and dangerous herbs It is also held good in Hydropick diseases the Jaundice falling-sickness Cramps Convulsiers the piles or Hemorrhoids or other cold diseases My Author quotes here many â—â—â—ases this is good for but conceals it services its heat is very vehement and al
some yellow thredssn the middle which being past there stand in their places smal round Heads of Seed Place It groweth plentifully in almost all places of this Land commonly in moist grounds by Hedg sides and in the middle of grassy Fields Time They Flower in June and July and their Seed is ripe quickly after Vertues and use Moneywort is singular good to stay all Fluxes in Men or Woman whether they be Lasks Bloody Fluxes the Flowing of Womens Courses Bleedings inwardly or outwardly and the weakness of the Stomach that is given to casting It is very good also for all Ulcers or Excoriations of the Lungs or other inward parts It is exceeding good for all Wounds either fresh or green to heal them speedily and for old Ulcers that are of a spreading nature For all which purposes The Juyce of the Herb or the Pouder drunk in Water wherein hot Steel hath been often quenched Or the Decoction of the green Herb in Wine or Water drunk Or the Seed Juyce or Decoction used to the outward places to wash or bath them or to have Tents dipped therein and put into them are effectual Moonwort Description This riseth up usually but with one dark green thick and fat Leaf standing upon a short footstalk not a bove two fingers breadth but when it will flower it may be said to beare a small slender stalk about four or five Inches high having but one leaf set in the middle therof which is much devided on both sides into somtimes five or seven parts on a sid somtimes more each of which parts is small next the middle rib but broad forwards and round pointed resembling therein an half Moon from whence it took the name the uppermost parts or divisions being less than the lowest The Stalk riseth above this Leaf two or three inches bearing many Branches of small long Tongues every one like the spiky Head of Adders-Tongue of a brownish colour which whether I shall call them Flowers or the Seed I well know notâ— which after they have continued a while resolve into a Mealy dust The Root is smal and Fibrous This hath somtimes divers such like Leavs as are before Described with so many branches or tops arising from one Stalk each devided from the other Place It groweth on Hills and Heaths yet where there is much Grass for therein it delighteth to grow Time It is to be found only in April and May for in June when any hot weather cometh for the most part it is withered and gone Vertues and use Moonwort is cold and drying more than Adders-tongue and is therefore held to be more available for all Wounds both inward and outward The Leavs boyled in red Wine and drunk stayeth the immoderate Flux of Womens Courses and the Whites It also staieth Bleeding Vomitings and other Fluxes It helpeth all Blows and Bruises and to consolidate all Fractures and Dislocations It is good for Ruptures But it is chiefly used by most with other Herbs to make Oyls or Balsoms to heal fresh or green Wounds as I said before either inward or outward for which it is excellent good Moonwort is an Herb which they say will open Locks and unshoo such Horses as tread upon it this some laugh to scorn and those no smal Fools neither but Country people that I know call it Unshoo the Horse besides I have heard Commanders say That on White Down in Devon neer Tiverton there was found thirty Hors shoos pulled off from the feet of the Earl of Essex his Horses being there drawn up in a Body many of them being but newly shod and no reason known which caused much admiration and the Herb described usually grows upon Heaths The Moon owns the Herb. Mosses I Shal not trouble the Reader with any Description of these sith my intent is to speak only of two kinds as the most principal Viz. Ground-Moss and Tree-Moss both which are very well know Place The Ground-Moss growing in our moist Woods and the bottoms of Hills in boggy grounds and in shadowy Ditches and many other such like places The Tree-Moss groweth only on Trees Vertues and use The Ground-Moss is held to be singular good to break the Stone and to expel and drive it forth by Urin being boyled in Wine and drunk The Herb bruised and boyled in Water and applied easeth all Inflamations and pains coming of an hot caus â— and is therfore used to eas the pains of the hot Gout The Tree-Mosses are cooling and binding and partake of a digesting and mollifying quality withal as Galon saith But each Moss doth partake of the Nature of the Tree from whence it is taken therefore that of the Oak is more Binding and is of good effect to stay Fluxes in man or Woman as also Vomitings or Bleedings the Pouder thereof being taken in Wine The Decoction thereof in Wine is very good for Women to be hathed with or to sit in that are troubled with the overflowing of their Courses The same being drunk stayeth the Stomach that is troubled with casting or the Hiccough and as Aâ—â—iâ—â—nna saith it comforteth the Heart The Pouder thereof taken in Drink for some time together is thought available for the Dropsie The Oyl of Roses that hath had fresh Moss steeped therin for a time and after boyled and applied to the Temples and Forehead doth Merveilously eas the Headach coming of a hot caus as also the Distillations of hot Rhewm or Humors to the Eyes or other parts The Antients much used it in their Oyntments and other Medicines against Lassitude and to strengthen and comfort the Sinews For which if it was good then I know no reason but it may be fonnd so still Motherwort Discription THis hath a hard square brownish rough strong Stalk rising three or four foot high at the least spreading into many Branches whereon grow Leavs ou each side with long Footstalks two at every Joynt which are somwhat broad and long as it were rough or crumpled with many great Veins therein of a sad green colour and deeply dented about the edges and almost devided From the middle of the Branches up to the tops of them which are very long and smal grow the Flowers round about them at distances in sharp pointed rough hard Husks of a more red or purple-colour than Balm or Horehound but in the same manner and form as the Horehounds after which come smal round blackish Seed in great plenty The Root sendeth forth a number of long Strings and smal Fibres taking strong hold in the Ground of a dark yellowish or brownish colour and abideth as the Horehound doth the smell of this being not much different from it Place It groweth only in Gardens with us in England Vertues and use Motherwort is held to be of much use for the trembling of the Heart and in faintings and swounings from whence it took
Poplars which are most familiar with us Viz. The Black and the White both which I shall here describe unto you The white Poplar groweth great and reasonable high covered with a thick smooth white Bark especially the Branches having large Leavs cut into several devisions almost â— a Vine Leaf but not of so deep a green on the upper side and hoary white underneath of a reasonable good scent the whol form representing the Leaf of Coltsfoot The Catkins which it bringeth forth before the Leavs are long and of a faint reddish colour which fall away bearing seldom good Seed with them The Wood hereof is smooth soft and white very finely waved whereby it is much esteemed The Black Poplar groweth high â— straiter than the White with a grayish Bark bearing broad and green Leaves somwhat like Ivy Leavs not cut in on the edges like the White but whol and dented ending in a point and not white underneath hanging by slender long Footstalks which with the Air are continually shaken like as the Aspin Leavs are The Catkins hereof are greater than of the White composed of many round green Berries as it were set together in a long Cluster containing much downice matter which being ripe is blown away with the wind The clammy Buds hereof before they spread into Leavs are gathered to make the Unguentum Populeon and are of a yellowish green colour and smal somwhat sweet but strong The Wood is smooth tough â—and white and easie to be cloven On both these Trees groweth a sweet kind of Musk which in former times was used to be put into sweet Oyntments Place They grow in moist Woods and by water sides in sundry places of the Land yet the white is not so frequent as the other Time Their time is likewise expressed before The Catkins coming forth before the Leavs and ripen in the end of Summer Vertues and Use. The White Poplar saith Galen is of a clensing property The weight of one ounce in Pouder of the Bark thereof being drunk saith Dioscorides is a Remedy for those that are troubled with the Sciatica or the Strangury The Juyce of the Leavs dropped warm into the Ears easeth the pains in them The yong clammy Buds or Eyes before they break out into Leavs bruised and a little Honey put to them is a good Medicine for a dull Sight The Black Poplar is held to be more cooling than the White and therefore the Leavs bruised with Vinegar and applied helpeth the Gout The Seed drunk in Vinegar is held good against the Falling-sickness The Water that droppeth from the hollow places of this Tree taketh away Warts Pushes Wheals and other the like breakings out in the Body The yong black Poplar Buds saith Mathiolus are much used by Women to beautifie their hair bruising them with fresh Butter and straining them after they have been kept for some time in the Sun The Oyntment called Populeon which is made of this Poplar is singular good for all heat or Inflamation in any part of the â—â—â—â—â—y and tempereth the heat of Wounâ—â—his much used to dry up the Milk in Womens Breasts When they have weyned their Children Poppy OF this I shal describe three kinds Viz. The Whites and Black of the Garden and the Erratick wild Poppy or Corn Rose Discription The white Poppy hasth at first four or five whitish green Leavs lying upon the ground which rise with the Stalk compassing it at the bottom of them and are very large much cut or torn in on the edges and dented also besides The Stalk which is usually four or five foot high hath somtimes no Branches at the top usually but two or three at most bearing every one but one Head wrapped in a thin Skin which boweth down before it be ready to blow and then rising and being broken the Flower within it spreadeth it self open and consisteth of four very large White round Leavs with many whitish round threds in the middle set about a small round green Head having a Crown or Star-like cover at the Head thereof which growing ripe becometh as large as a great Apple wherein are contained a great number of smal round Seed in several partitions or devisions next unto the shell the middle thereof remaining hollow and empty All the whol Plant both Leavs Stalks and Heads while they are fresh yong and green yield a Milk when they are broken of an unpleasant bitter tast almost ready to provoke casting and of a strong heady smel which being condensate is called Opium The Root is white and woody perishing as soon as it hath given ripe Seed The Black Poppy little differeth from the former until it beareth his Flower which is somwhat less and of a black Purplish colour but without any purple spots in the bottom of the Leaf The Head of Seed is much less than the former and openeth it self a little round about the top under the Crown so that the Seed which is very black will fall out if one turn the Head thereof downwards The wild Poppy or Corn Rose hath long and narrow Leavs very much cut in on the edges into many devisions of a light green colour and somtimes hairy withal The Stalk is blackish and hairy also but not so tall as the Garden kinds having some such like Leavs thereon as grow below parted into three or four Branches somtimes whereon grow smal hairy Heads bowing down before the Skin break wherein the Flower is inclosed which when it is ful blown open is of a fair yellowish red or crimson colour and in some much paler without any spot in the bottom of the Leavs having many black soft threds in the middle compassing a smal green Head which when it is ripe is not bigger than ones little finger end wherin is contained much black Seed smaller by half than that of the Garden The Root perisheth every yeer and springeth again of its own sowing Of this kind there is one lesser in all the parts thereof and differeth in nothing els Places The Garden kinds do not naturally grow wild in any place but are all sown in Gardens where they grow The Wild Poppy or Corn Rose is plentiful enough and many times too much in the Corn Fields of all Countries through this Land and also upon Ditch Banks and by Hedg sides The smaller wild kind is also found in Corn Fields and also in some other place but not so plentiful as the former Time The Garden kinds are usually sown in the Spring which then Flower about the end of May and somwhat earlier if they spring of their own sowing The Wild Kinds Flower usually from May until July and the Seed of them is ripe soon after the Flowring Vertues and use The Garden Poppy Heads with Seeds made into a Syrup is frequently and to good effect used to procure rest and sleep in the sick and weak and to stay Catarrh's and Defluxions of hot thin Rhewms from the Head into the Stomach
Decoction made in Wine taketh away the itching of the Cods if they be bathed therwith Agrippa saith That if Women that cannot conceive by reason of the moist slipperiness of their Wombs shall take a quantity of the Juyce of Sage with a little Salt for four daies before they company with their Husbands it will help them not only to Conceive but also to retain the Birth without miscarrying Orpheus saith Three spoonfuls of the Juyce of Sage taken fasting with a little Honey doth presently stay the spitting or casting up of Blood For them that are in a Consumption these Pills are much commended Take of Spicknard and Ginger of each two drams of the Seed of Sage toasted at the fire eight drams of long Pepper twelve drams all these being brought into fine Pouder put thereto so much Juyce of Sage as may make them into a Mass for Pills taking a dram of them every morning fasting and so likewise at night drinking a little pure Water after them Mathiolus saith it is very profitable for all manner of pains of the Head coming of cold and Rhewmatick Humors as also for all pains of the Joynts whether used inwardly or outwardly and therfore helpeth the Falling-sickness the Lethargy such as are dull and heavy of spirit the Palsey and is of much use in an Defluxions of Rhewm from the Head and for the Diseases of the Chest or Preast The Leavs of Sage and Nettles bruised together and laid upon the Impostume that riseth behind the Ears doth aslwage it much The juyce of Sage taken in warm water helpeth a Hoarsness and the Cough The Leavs sodden in Wine and laid upon the place affected with the Palsey helpeth much if the Decoction be drunk also Sage taken with Wormwood is used for the bloody Flux Pliny saith it procureth Womens Courses and stayeth them coming down too fast helpeth the stinging and biting of Serpents and killeth the Worms that breed in the Ears and in Sores Sage is of excellent use to help the Memory warming and quickning the senses and the Conserve made of the Flowers is used to the same purpose and also for all the former recited Diseases The Juyce of Sage drunk with Vinegar hath been of good use in the time of Plague at all times Gargles likewise are made with Sage Rosemary Honeysuckles and Plantane boyled in Wine or Water with some Honey and Allum put thereto to wash sore Mouthes and Throats Cankers or the secret parts of man or woman as need requireth And with other hot and comfortable Herbs Sage is boyled to bath the Body or Legs in the Summer time especially to warm cold Joynts or Sinews troubled with the Palsey or Cramp and to comfort and strengthen the parts It is much commended against the Stitch or pains in the side coming of Wind if the place be fomented warm with the Decoction thereof in Wine and the Herb after the boyling be laid warm also thereunto Jupiter claims this and bid me tell you it is good for the Liver and to breed good Blood VVood-Sage Description VVood-Sage riseth up with square hoary Stalks two foot high at the least with two Leavs set at every Joynt somwhat like other Sage Leavs but smaller softer whiter and rounder and a little dented about the edges and smelling somwhat strongly At the tops of the Stalks and Branches stand the Flowers on a slender long Spike turning themselves all one way when they blow and are of a pale and whitish colour smaller than Sage but hooded and gaping like unto them The Seed is blackish and round four usually set in a husk together The Root is long and stringy with diverse Fibres thereat and abideth many yeers Place It groweth in Woods and by Wood-sides as also in diverse Fields and by-Lanes in this Land Time It Flowreth in June July and August Vertues and Use. The Decoction of Wood-Sage provoketh Urine and Womens Courses it also provoketh Sweat digesteth Humors and discusseth Swellings and Nodes in the Flesh and is therefore thought to be good against the French Pox. The Decoction of the green Herb made with Wine is a safe and sure Remedy for those who by falls bruises or Blows doubt some Vein to be inwardly broken to disperse and avoid the congealed blood and to consolidate the Vein It is also good for such as are inwardly or outwardly bursten the drink used inwardly and the Herb applied outwardly The same used in the same manner is found to be a sure Remedy for the Palsey The Juyce of the Herb or the Pouder thereof dried is good for moist Ulcers and sores in the Legs or other parts to dry them and caus them to heal the more speedily It is no less effectual also in green Wounds to be used upon any occasion Solomons Seal Description THe common Solomons Seal riseth up with a round Stalk about half a yard high bowing or bending down to the top set with single Leavs one above another somwhat large and like the Leavs of the LillyConvalley or May Lilly with an eye of blewish upon the green with some ribs therein and more yellowish underneath At the foot of every Leaf almost from the bottom up to the top of the Stalk come forth small long white and hollow pendulous Flowers somwhat like the Flowers of May-Lilly but ending in five long points for the most part two together at the end of a long Footstalk and somtimes but one and sometimes also two Stalks with Flowers at the Foot of a Leaf which are without any scent at all and stand all on one side of the Stalk After they are past come in their places smal round Berries green at the first and blackish green tending to blewness when they are ripe wherein lie smal white hard and stony Seed The Root is of the thickness of ones finger or Thumb white and knobbed in some places with a flat round circle representing a Seal whereof it took the name lying along under the upper crust of the Earth and not growing downward but with many fibres underneath Place It is frequent in diverse places of this Land as namely in a Wood two miles from Canterbury by Fishpool-Hill as also in a bushy Close belonging to the Parsonage of Alderbury neer Clarindon two miles from Salisbury in Chesson Wood on Chesson Hill between Newington and Sittingborn in Kent and in diverse other places in Essex and other Counties Time It Flowreth about May The Root abideth and shooteth anew every yeer Vertues and Use. The Root of Solomons Seal is found by experience to be available in Wounds Hurts and outward Sores to heal and close up the lips of those that are green and to dry up and restrain the Flux of Humors to those that are old It is singular good to stay Vomitings and Bleedings wheresoever as also al Fluxes in man or woman whether the Whites or Reds in Women or the running of the Reins in men also to knit any Joynt
little dented in the middle of a pale Rose colour almost white somtimes deeper and somtimes paler of a reasonable good scent Place It groweth wild in many low and wet grounds of this Land by the Brooks and sides of running Waters Time It Flowreth usually in July and so continueth all August and part of September before they be quite spent Vertues and use The Country people in diverse places do use to bruise the Leaves of Sopewort and lay it to their Fingers Hands or Legs when they are cut to heal them up again Some make great boast there of that it is Diuretical to provoke Urine and thereby to expel Gravel and the Stone in the Reins or Kidneys and do also account it singular good to avoid Hydropical waters thereby to cure the disease of the Dropsie And they no less extol it to perform an absolute cure in the French Pox more than either Sarsaparilla Gujacum or China can do which how true it is I leave to others to judg Sorrel OUr ordinary Sorrel which groweth in Gardens and also wild in the Fields is so well known that it needeth no Description Vertues and Use. Sorrel is prevalent in all hot Diseases to cool any Inflamation and heat of Blood in Agues Pestilential or Chollerick or other sicknesses and sainting rising from heat and to refresh the overspent Spirits with the violence of furious or fiery fits of Agues to quench Thirst and procure an Appetite in fainting or decayd Stomachs for it resisteth the putrefaction of the Blood killeth Worms and is as a Cordial to the heart which the Seed doth more effectually being more drying and binding and thereby stayeth the hot Fluxes of Womens Courses or of Humors in the Bloody Flux or Flux of the Stomach The Roots also in a Decoction or in Pouder is effectual for all the said purposes Both Roots and Seed as well as the Herb is held powerful to resist the poyson of the Scorpion The Decoction of the Roots is taken to help the Jaundice and to expel Gravel and the Stone in the Reins or Kidneys The Decoction of the Flowers made with Wine and drunk helpeth the black Jaundice as also the inward Ulcers of the Body or Bowels A Syrup made with the Juyce of Sorrel and Fumitary is a Soveraign help to kill those sharp Humors that cause the Itch. The Juyce thereof with a little Vinegar serveth well to be used outwardly for the same cause and is also profitable for Tetters Ringworms c. It helpeth also to discuss the Kernels in the Throat and the Juyce gargled in the Mouth helpeth the Sores therein The Leaves wrapped up in a Colewoort Leaf and roasted under the Embers and applied to a hard Impostume Botch Boyl or Plague Sore both ripeneth and breaketh it The Distilled water of the Herb is of much good use for all the purposes aforesaid Venus owns it and she will never deny the Herb that follows Wood Sorrel Description THis groweth low upon the ground having a number of Leaves coming from the Root made of three Leaves like a Trefoyl but broad at the ends and cut in the middle of a faint yellowish green colour every one standing on a long Footstalk which at their first coming up are close folded together to the Stalk but opening themselves afterwards and are of a fine sowr rellish and yeelding a Juyce which will turn red when it is clarified and maketh a most dainty clear Syrup Among these Leavs riseth up diverse slender weak Footstalks with every one of them a Flower at the top consisting of five small pointed Leaves Star fashion of a white colour in most places and in some dash'd over with a small shew of blush on the back side only After the Flowers are past follow smal round heads with small yellowish Seed in them The Roots are nothing but smal strings fastned to the end of a smal long piece all of them being of a yellowish colour Place It groweth in many places of our Land in Woods and Wood sides where they be moist and shadowed and in other places not too much open to the Sun Time It Flowreth in April and May. Vertues and Use. Wood Sorrel serveth to all purposes that the other Sorrels do and is more effectual in hindring the putrefaction of Blood and Ulcers in the Mouth and Body and in cooling and tempering heats Inflamations to quench thirst to strengthen a weak Stomach to procure an appetite to stay Vomiting and very excellent in any contagious sickness or Pestilential Feavers The Syrup made of the Juyce is effectual in all the causes afore said and so is the Distilled Water of the Herb also Spunges or Linnen Cloathes wet in the Juyce and applied outwardly to any hot Swellings or Inflamations doth much cool and help them The same Juyce taken and gargled in the Mouth and after it is spit forth fresh taken doth wonderfully help a foul stinking Canker or Ulcer therein It is singular good in Wounds Thrusts and Stabs in the Body to stay bleeding and to clense â— and heal the Wounds speedily and helpeth to stay any hot Defluxions into the Throat or Lungs Sow-Thistles THese are generally so well known that they need no Description Place They grow in our Gardens and manured Grounds and somtimes by old Walls the path sides of Fields and High-waies Vertues and use Sow-thistles are cooling and somwhat binding and are very fit to cool an hot Stomach and to ease the gnawing pains thereof The Herb boyled in Wine is very helpful to stay the dissolutions of the Stomach And the Milk that is taken from the Stalks when they are broken given in drink is beneficial to those that are short Winded and have a wheesing withal Pliny saith that it hath caused the Gravel and Stone to be voided by Urine and that the eating thereof helpeth a stinking breath Three spoonfuls of the Juyce thereof taken in white Wine warmed and some Oyl put thereto causeth Women in Travel to have so easie and speedy delivery that they may be able to walk presently after The said Juyce taken in warm drink helpeth the Strangury and pains in making water The Decoction of the Leaves and Stalks causeth abundance of Milk in Nurses and their Children to be well coloured and is good for those whose Milk doth curdle in their Breasts The Juyce boiled or throughly heated with a little Oyl of Bitter Almonds in the Pill of a Pomegranate and dropped into the Ears is a sure Remedy for Deafness singings and all other Diseases in them The Herb bruised or the Juyce is profitably applied to all hot Inflamations in the Eyes or wheresoever else and for Wheals Blisters or other the like eruptions of heat in the Skin as also for the heat and itching of the Hemorrhoids and the heat and sharpness of Humors in the Secret parts of man or Woman The distilled water of the Herb is not only effectual for all the Diseases aforesaid
a Soldier hath I say when Mars was free from War he called a Councel of War in his own Brain to know how he should do poor sinful man good desiring to forget his in being called an Infortune He musters up his own Forces and places them in Bâ—ttalia â—h quoth he why do I hurt a poor silly Man or Woman His Angel Answers him 'T is because they have ofâ—ended their God Look back to Adam Well saies Mars though they speak evil of me I 'le do good to them Death's cold my Herbs shall heat them They are full of ill Humors else they would never have spoken ill of me my Herb shall clense them and dry them They are poor weak Creatures my Herb shall threngthen them they are dul witted my Herb shall fortifie their Apprehensions and yet amongst Astrologers all this doth not deserve a good word â—h the Patience of Mars Faelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Inque domus superum scandere cura fiâ—t Oh happy he that can the Knowledg gain To know th' eternal God made nought in vain To this I add I know the reason causeth such a Dearth Of Knowledg 't is becaus men love the Earth The other day Mars told me he met with Venus and he asked her what the Reason was that she accused him for abusing Women he never gave them the Pox in the Dispute they fell out and in anger parted and Mars told me that his brother Saturn told him that an Antivenerial Medicine was the best against the Pox. Once a Month he meets with the Moon Mars is quick enough of speech and the Moon not much behind hand neither are most Women The Moon looks much after Children and Children are much troubled with the Worms she desued a Medicine of him he bad her take his own Herb Wormwood He had no sooner parted with the Moon but he met with Venus and she was as drunk as a Bitch Alâ—s poot Venus quoth heâ— What thou a Fortune and be drunk I 'le give thee an Antipathetical Cure take my Herb Wormwood thou shalt never get a Surfet by drinking A poor silly Country-man hath got an Ague and cannot go about his business he wishes he had it not and so do I but I 'le tell him a Remedy whereby he may prevent it Take the Herb of Mars Wormwood and if Infortunes will do good what will Fortunes do Some say the Lungs are under Jupiter and if the Lungs then the breath and yet a man somtimes gets a stinking breath and yet Jupiter is a Fortune forsooth up comes Mars to him Come Brother Jupiter thou knowest I sent thee a couple of Trines to thy Houses last night the one from Aries and the other from Scorpio give me thy leave by Sympathy to cure the poor man by drinking a draught of Wormwood Beer every morning The Moon was weak the other day and she gave a man two terrible mischiefs a dull Brain and a weak sight Mars lâ—ies by his Sword and comes to her Sister Moon saith he This man hath anger'd thee but I beseech thee take notice he is but a Fool prithee be patient I will with my Herb Wormwood cure him of both Infirmities by Antipathy for thou knowst thou and I cannot agree with that the Moon began to quarrel Mars not delighting much in Womens Tongues went away and did it whether she would or no. He that reades this and understands what he reades he hath a Jewel more worth then a Diamond He that understands it not is as little fit to give Physick There lies a Key in these words which will unlock if it be turned by a wise hand the Cabbinet of Physick I have delivered it so plainly as I durst 't is not upon Wormwood only that I wrote but upon all Plants Trees and Herbs He that understands it not is unfit in my Opinion to give Physick This shall live when I am dead and thus I leave it to the World not caring â— Halfpenny whether they like or dislike it The Grave equals all men and therefore shall equal me with the Princes until which time the Eternal Providence is over me then the ill tongue of a praâ—ling Priest or of one who hath more Tongue than Wit or more Pride than Honesty shall never trouble me Wisdom is justified of her Children and so much for Wormwood Yarrow Description IT hath many long Leaves spread upon the ground and fine cut and devided into many smal parts Its Flowers are white but not all of a whiteness and staied in Knots upon diverse green Stalks which rise from amongst the Leaves Place It is very frequent in all Pastures Time It Flowers late even in the latter end of August Vertues and Use. An Oyntment of them cures Wounds and is most fit for such as have Inflamations it being an Herb of Dame Venus It stops the Terms in Women being boyled in white Wine and the Decoction drunk as also the Bloody Flux the Oyntment of it is not only good for green Wounds but also for Ulcers and Fistulaes especially such as abound with moisture It staies the shedding off of Hair the Head being bathed with the Decoction of it inwardly taken it helps the retentive faculty of the Stomach it helps the running of the Reins in men and the whites in women and helps such as cannot hold their water and the Leaves chewed in the Mouth ease the Toothach and these Vertues being put together shew the Herb to be drying and binding Achilles is supposed to be the first that leâ—t the Vertues of this Herb to posterity having learned them of his Master Chyron the Centaure and certainly a very profitable Herb it is in the Camp and perhaps therfore called Militaris DIRECTIONS HAving in diverse places of this Treatise promised you the way of making Syrups Conserves Oyls Oyntments c. of Herbs Roots Flowers c. whereby you may have them ready for your use at such times when otherwise they cannot be had I come now to perform what I promised and you shall find me rather better than worse than my word That this may be done Methodically I shall devide my Directions into two grand Sections and each Sections into several Chapters and then you shall see it look with such a Countenance as this is Sect. 1. Of gathering drying and keeping Simples and their Juyces Chap. 1. Of Leaves of Herbs c. Chap. 2. Of Flowers Chap. 3. Of Seeds Chap. 4. Of Roots Chap. 5. Of Barks Chap. 6. Of Juyces Sect. 2. Of making and keeping Compounds Chap. 1. Of Distilled Waters Chap. 2. Of Syrups Chap. 3. Of Juleps Chap. 4. Of Decoctions Chap. 5. Of Oyls Chap. 6. Of Electuaries Chap. 7. Of Conserves Chap. 8. Of Preserves Chap. 9. Of Lohochs Chap. 10. Of Oyntments Chap. 11. Of Plaisters Chap. 12. Of Pultisses Chap. 13. Of Troches Chap. 14. Of Pills Chap. 15. The way of fitting Medicines to Compound Diseases Of all
may be found in my Translation of the London Dispensatory and it may be I may give you again in plainer terms at the latter end of this Book ♀ Bishops-weed Description COmmon Bishops-weed riseth up with a round straight Stalk somtimes as high as a Man but usually three or four foot high beset with divers smal long and somwhat broad Leavs cut in som places and dented about the edges growing one against another of a dark green colour having sundry Branches on them and at the top smal umbels of white flowers which turn into smal round brown Seed little bigger than Parsly-seed of a quick hot scent and tast The Root is white and stringie perishing yearly after it hath seeded and usually riseth again of its own sowing Place It groweth wild in many places in England and Wales as between Greenheath and Gravsend Vertues It digesteth Humors provoketh Urin and Womens Courses dissolveth Wind and being taken in Wine easeth pains and griping in the Bowels and is good against the biting of Serpents It is used to good effect in those Medicins which are given to hinder the poysonful operation of Cantharides upon the passages of the Urin Being mixed with Honey and applied to black and blue marks coming of blows or bruises it takes them away and being drunk or outwardly applied it abateth an high colour and makes it pale and the Fumes therof taken with Rozin or Raisons clenseth the Mother It is hot and dry in the third degree of a bitter tast and somthing sharp withal it provokes Lust to purpose I suppose Venus owns it Bistort or Snakeweed ♄ Description THis hath a thick short knobbed Root blackish without and somwhat reddish within a little crooked or turned together of an harsh astringent tast with divers black threds hanging there from whence spring up every year divers Leaves standing upon long Footstalks being somwhat broad and long like a Dock-leaf and a little pointed at the ends but that it is of a blewish green colour on the upper side and of an Ash colour gray and a little purplish underneath with divers Veins therin from among which rise up divers smal and slender Stalks two foot high and almost naked and without Leavs or with very few and narrow bearing a spiky Bush of pale Flesh colour'd Flowers which being past there abideth smal Seed somwhat like unto Sorrel Seed but greater There are other sorts of Bistort growing in this Land but smaller both in height Root and Stalks and especially in the Leavs The Root blackish without and somwhat whitish within of an austere binding tast as the former Place They grow in shadowy moist Woods and at the foot of Hils but are chiefly nourished up in Gardens The narrow leaved Bistort groweth in the North in Lancashire yorkshire and Cumberland Time They Flower about the end of May and the Seed is ripe about the beginning of July Vertues and use Both the Leavs and Roots have have a powerful faculty to resist al Poyson The Root in Pouder taken in drink expelleth the Venem of the Plague the smal Pox Meazles Purples or any other infectious Diseas driving it out by sweating The Root in Pouder or the Decoction therof in Wine being drunk stayeth al manner of inward bleedings or spittings of Blood and any Fluxes in the Body of either Man or Woman or Vomitings it is also very available against Ruptures or Burstings or all bruises or fals dissolving the congealed Blood and easeth the pains that happen thereupon it also helpeth the Jaundice The Water distilled from both Leavs and Roots is a singular remedy to wash any place bitten or stung by any venemous creature as also for any of the purposes before spoken of And is very good to wash any running Sores or Ulcers The Decoction of the Root in Wine being drunk hindreth Abortion or Miscarriage in Child-bearing The Leavs also kil the Worms in Children and is a great help for them that cannot keep their Water if the Jayce of Plantane be added therto And outwardly applied much helpeth the Gonorrhea or running of the Reins A dram of the Pouder of the Root taken in the Water thereof wherein som red hot Iron or Steel hath been quenched is also an admirable help thereto so as the Body be first prepared and purged from the offensive humors The Leaves Seed or Roots are al very good in Decoctions Drinks or Lotians for inward or outward Wounds or other fores and the Pouder strewed upon any cut or wound in a Vein stayeth the immoderat bleeding thereof The Decoction of the Roots in Water whereunto som Pomgranate Pils and Flowers are added injected into the Matrix stayeth the access of humors to the Ulcers therof and bringeth it to its right place being fallen down and stayeth the immoderat flux of the Courses The Root hereof with Pellitory of Spain and burnt Allum of each a like quantity beaten smal and made into Past with some Honey and a little Picce thereof put into an hollow-Tooth or held between the Teeth if there be no hollowness in them stayeth the defluxion of Rhewm upon them which causeth pains and helps to clense the Head and avoid much offensive Water The Distilled Water is very effectual to wash Sores or Cankers in the Nose or any other part if the Pouder of the Root be aplied therunto afterwards It is good also to fasten the Gums and to take away the heat and inflamations that happen in the Jaws Almonds of the Throat or Mouth if the Decoction of the Leavs Roots or Seeds be used or the Juyce of them but the Roots are most effectual to all the purposes aforesaid ☉ One-Blade Description THis smal Plant never beareth more than one Leaf but only when it rises up with its Stalk which thereon beareth another and seldom more which are of a bluish green colour broad at the bottom and pointed with many Ribs or Veins like Plantane At the top of the Stalk grow many smal white Flowers Star-fashion smelling somthing sweet after which come smal reddish Berries when they are ripe The Root is smal of the bigness of a Rush lying and creeping under the upper crust of the Earth shooting forth in diverse places Place It groweth in moist shadowy grassie places of Woods in many places of this Realm Time It flowreth about May and the Berries be ripe in June and then quickly perisheth until the next year it springth from the same again The Vertues Half a dram or a dram at most of the Roots hereof in Pouder taken in Wine and Vineger of each a like quantity and the party presently laid to swear is held to be a sovereign remedy for those that are infected with the Plague and have a sore upon them by expelling the Poyson and defending the Heart and Spirits from danger it is also accounted a singular good Wound-Herb and therfore used with other
from the former saving that the Leavs and Stalks are alwaies green and never brown like the other and that the Flowers therof are very white Place They grow in Woods wet Copses and Fields generally throughout England but the White flowered Bugle is not so plentiful as the other Time They flower from May until July and in the mean time perfect their Seed The Roots and Leavs next therunto upon the ground abiding all Winter Vertues and Use. The Decoction of the Leavs and Flowers made in Wine and taken dissolveth the congeled Blood in those that are bruised inwardly by a fall or otherwise and is very effectual for any inward Wounds Thrusts or Stabs into the Body or Bowels and is an especial help in all Wound-drinks and for those that are Liver-grown as they cal it It is wonderful in curing all manner of Ulcers and Sores whether new and fresh or old and inveterate yea Gangrenes and Fistulaes also if the Leavs bruised be aplied or their Juyce used to wash and bath the places And the same made into a Lotion with some Honey and Allum cureth all sores of the Mouth or Gums be they never so foul or of long continuance and worketh no less powerfully and effectually for such Ulcers and Sores as happen in the secret parts of Men or Women Being also taken inwardly and outwardly applied it helpeth those that have broken any Bone or have any Member out of Joynt An Ointment made with the Leaves of Bugle Scabious and Sanicle bruised and boyled in Hogs-Greas until the Herbs be dry and then strained forth into a Pot for such occasions as shal require it is so singular good for al sorts of hurts in the Body that non that know its usefulness will be without it This Herb is belonging to Dame Venus and if the Vertues of it make you in love with it as they wil if you be wise keep a Syrup of it to take inwardly and an Ointment and Plaister of it to use outwardly alwaies by you The truth is I have known this Herb cure some Diseases of Saturn of which I thought good to quote one Many times such as give themselvs much to drinking are troubled with strange Fancies strange sights in the night-time and some with Voices as also with the Diseas Ephialtes or the Mare I take the reason of this to be according to Fernelius a Melancholly vapor made thin by excessive drinking strong Liquor and so flyes up and disturbs the Fancy and breeds imaginations like it self viz. fearful and troublesom These I have known cured by taking only two spoonfuls of the Syrup of this Herb after Supper two hours when you go to bed But whether this do it by Sympathy or Antipathy is som question all that know any thing in Astrologie know that there is a great Antipathy between Saturn and Venus in matter of Procreation yea such an one that the barreness of Saturn can be removed by none but Venus nor the lust of Venus be repelled by none but Saturn but I am not yet of opinion this is done this way and my reason is because these vapprs though in quality Melancholly yet by their flying upward seem to be somthing Aërial therefore I rather think it is done by Sympathy Saturn being exalted in Libra the house of Venus Selfheal which follows is of the same nature and I am of opinion the same Herb only differs a little in form according to the difference of place they grow in this I am sure they work the same effect ☉ Burnet THe common Garden Burnet is so well known that it needeth no Description There is another sort which is wild the Description wherof take as followeth Description The great wild Burnet hath winged Leavs rising from the Roots like the Garden Burnet but not so many yet each of these Leavs are at the least twice as large as the other aâ—d nicked in the same manner about the edges of a grayish colour on the underside The Stalks are greater and rise higher with many such like Leavs set theron and greater heads at the tops of a brownish green colour and out of them come smal dark purple Flowers like the former but greater The Root is black and long like the other but greater also It hath almost neither scent nor tast therin like the Garden kind Place The first grows frequently in Gardens The Wild kind groweth in divers Countries of this Land especially in Huntington Northampton shires in the Meadows there as also near London by Pancras-Church and by a Causey side in the middle of a Field by paddington Time They flower about the end of June and beginning of July and their Seed is ripe in August Vertues They are accounted to be both of one property but the lesser is more effectual because quicker and more Aromatical It is a friend to the Heart Liver and other the principal parts of a mans Body Two or three of the Stalks with Leavs put into a Cup of Wine especially Clarret are known to quicken the Spirits refresh and cheer the Heart and drive away Melancholly It is a special help to defend the Heart from noisom vapors and from Infection of the Pestilence the Juyce therof being taken in som Drink and the party laid to sweat thereupon They have also a drying and an astringent quality whereby they are available in all manner of Fluxes of Bloud or Humors to stanch bleedings inward or outward Lasks Scourings the Bloudy-flux Womens too abundant Courses the Whites and the Chollerick belchings and castings of the Stomach and is a singular good Wound-herb for all sorts of Wounds both of the Head and Body either inward or outward for all old Ulcers or running Cankers and moist sores to be used either by the Juyce or Decoction of the Herb or by the Pouder of the Herb or Root or the Water of the Distilled Herb or Ointment by it self or with other things to be kept The Seed is also no less effectual both to stop Fluxes and dry up moist Sores being taken in Pouder inwardly in Wine or steeled Water that is wherin hot Gads of Steel have been quenched Or the Pouder of the Seed mixed with the Ointments This is an Herb the Sun challengeth dominion over and is a most precious Herb little inferior to Betony The continual use of it preservs the Body in health and the Spirits in vigor for if the Sun be the preserver of life under God his Herbs are the best in the World to do it by ☉ The Butter-Bur Description THis riseth up in February with a thick Stalk about a foot high whereon are set a few smal Leavs or rather pieces and at the tops a long spiked head of Flowers of a blush or deep red colour according to the soil wherin it groweth and before the Stalk with the Flowers have abidden a month above ground wil be withered and gone blown away with the wind and the Leaves will begin to
four foot high and somtimes more with divers great white Joynts at several places theron and two such like Leavs therat up to the top sending forth Branches at the several Joynts also al which bear on several Footstalks white Flowers at the tops of them consisting of five broad pointed Leavs every one cut in on the end unto the middle making them seem to be two apiece smelling somwhat sweet and each of them standing in large green striped hairy Husks large and round below next to the Stalk The Seed is smal and grayish in the hard Heads that come up afterwards The Root is white and long spreading divers fangs in the ground The Red Wild Campion groweth in the same manner as the White but his Leavs are not so plainly ribbed somwhat shorter rounder and more woolly in handling The Flowers are of the same form and bigness but in som of a pale in others of a bright red colour cut in at ends more finely which maketh the Leavs seem more in number than the other The Seed and the Roots are alike The Roots of both sorts abiding many years Ther are forty five kinds of Campions more those of them which are of Physical uses having the like Vertues with these above described which I take to be the two chiefest kinds Place They grow commonly through this Land by Fields Hedg-fides and Ditches Time They flower in Summer som earlier than others and some abiding longer than others Vertues and use It is sound by experience that the Decoction of the Herb either the White or Red being drunk doth stay inward bleedings and applied outwardly it doth the like And being drunk helpeth to expel the Urin being stop'd and Gravel or the Stone in the Reins or Kidnies Two drams of the Seed drunk in Wine purgeth the Body of Chollerick humors and helpeth those that are ftung by Scorpions or other venemous Beasts and may be as effectual for the Plague It is of very good use in old Sores Ulcers Cankers Fistulaes and the like to clens and heal them by consuming the moist humors falling into them and correcting the putrifaction of Humors offending them ☿ Carrots THe Garden kind are so wel known that they need no Description but because they are of les◠Physical use than the Wild kind as indeed almost in all Herbs the Wild are most effectual in Physick as being more powerful in operation then the Garden kinds I shal therfore briefly describe the wild Carrot Description It groweth in a manner altogether like the Tame but that the Leavs and Stalks are somwhat whiter and rougher The Stalks bear large tufts of white Flowers with a deep Purple spot in the middle which are contracted together when the Seed begins to ripen that the◠middle part being hollow and low and the outer Stalks rising high maketh the whol Umbel to shew like a Birds-Nest The Root is small long and hard unfit for meat being somwhat sharp and strong Place The Wild kind groweth in divers parts of this Land plentifully by the Fields sides and in untilled places Time They flower and seed in the end of Summer The Vertues The Wild kind breaketh Wind and removeth Stitches in the Sides provoketh Urin and Womens Courses and helpeth to break and expel the Stone The Seed also of the same worketh the like effect and is good for the Dropsie and those whose Bellies are swollen with Wind helpeth the Chollick the Stone in the Kidnies and the rising of the Mother being taken in Wine or boyled in Wine and taken and helpeth Conception The Leavs being applied with Honey to running Sores or Ulcers doth clense them I suppose the Seeds of them perform this better than the Roots And though Galen commend Garden Carrots highly to break Wind yet experience teacheth that they breed it first and we may thank Nature for expelling it not they The Seeds of them expel Wind indeed and so mend what the Root marreth ☿ Caraway Description IT beareth divers Stalks of fine cut Leavs lying upon the ground somwhat like to the Leavs of Carrots but not bushing so thick of a little quick tast in them from among which riseth up a square Stalk not so high as the Carrot at whose Joynts are set the like Leavs but smaler and finer and at the top smal open tufts or Umbels of white Flowers which turn into smal blackish Seed smaler than the Anniseed and of a quicker and hotter tast The Root is whitish smal and long somwhat like unto a Parsnep but with more wrinckled Bark and much less of a little hot and quick tast and stronger than the Parsnep and abideth after Seed-time Place It is usually sown with us in Gardens Time They flower in June or July and seed quickly after Vertues and use Caraway Seed hath a moderat sharp quality wherby it breaketh Wind and provoketh Urin which also the Herb doth The Root is better food than the Parsnep and is pleasant comfortable to the Stomach helping digestion The Seed is conducing to all the cold griefs of Head and Stomach the Bowels or Mother as also the wind in them and helpeth to sharpen the Eye-sight The Pouder of the Seed put into a Pultis taketh away black and blue spots of Blows or Bruises The Herb it self or with some of the Seed bruised and fryed laid hot in a bag or double cloth to the lower part of the Belly easeth the pains of the wind Chollick The Roots of Caraways eaten as men eat Parsnips strengthen the Stomacks of ancient people exceedingly and they need not make a whol meal of them neither and are fit to be planted in every ones Garden Caraway Comfects once only dipped in Sugar and half a spoonful of them eaten in the morning fasting and as many after each meal is a most admirable Remedy for such as are troubled with Wind. ☉ Celandine Description THis hath divers tender round whitish green Stalks with greater Joynts than ordinary in other Herbs as it were Knees very brittle and easie to break from whence grow Branches with large tender long Leavs much divided into many parts each of them cut in on the edges set at the Joynts on both sides of the Branches of a dark bluish green colour on the upper side like Columbines and of a more pale bluish green underneath ful of a yellow sap when any part is broken of a bitter tast and strong scent At the tops of the Branches which are much divided grow gold yellow Flowers of four Leaves apiece after which come smal long pods with blackish seed therin The Root is somwhat great at the head shooting forth divers other long Roots and smal Strings reddish on the outside and yellow within ful of a yellow sap therein Place It groweth in many places by old Walls by the Hedges and way sides in untilled places and being once planted in a Garden especially in some shady place it wil remain there Time They flower all the
though they had pissed in their shoos nay perhaps much wors As for that trick of curing the Eyes by it I can as yet say nothing to it for the rest it may be effectual We will grant that Clary strengthens the Back but this we deny That the cans of the running of the Reins in Men or the Whites in Women lies in the Back though the Back may somtimes be weakned by them and therfore the Medicine is as proper as for me when my Toe is sore to lay a Plaister to my Nose Cleavers or Goosgrass ♄ Description THe common Cleavers hath divers very rough square Stalks not so big as the Tag of a Point but rising up to be two or three yards high somtimes if it meet with any tall Bushes or Trees wheron it may climb yet without any Claspers or els much lower â—â— lying upon the Ground full of Joynts and at every of them shooteth forth a Branch besides the Leavs therat which are usually six set in a round compass like a Star or the Rowel of a Spur from between the Leavs at the Joynts towards the tops of the Branches come forth very smal white Flowers every one upon a smal threddy Footstalk which after they are fallen there do shew two smal round rough Seeds joyned together like two Testicles which when they are ripe grow hard and whitish having a little hole on the side somwhat like unro a Navil Both Stalks Leavs and Seeds are so rough that they wil cleav to any thing shal touch them The Root is small and very threddy spreading much in the Ground but dieth every yeer Place It groweth by the Hedg and Ditch Sides in many places of this Land and is so troublesom an Inhabitant in Gardens that it rampeth upon and is ready to choak what ever grows next it Time It. Flowreth in June and July and the Seed is tripe and falleth again in the end of July or August from whence it â—pringeth up again and not from the old Roots Vertues and use The Juyce of the Herb and Seed together taken in Wine helpeth those that are bitten with an Adder by preserving the Heart from the Venom It is familiarly taken in Broth to keep them lean and lank that are apt to grow fat The distilled Water drunk twice a day helpeth the yellow Jaundice and the Decoction of the Herb in experience found to do the same and stayeth Lasks and Bloody Fluxes The Juyce of the Leavs or they a little bruisep and applied to any bleeding wound stayeth the Bleeding The Juyce is also very good to close up the Lips of green Wounds and the Pouder of the dried Herb strewed therupon doth the same and likewise helpeth old Ulcers Being boyled with Hogs Greas it healeth al sorts of hard Swellings or Kernels in the Throat being anointed therwith The Juyce dropped into the Ears taketh away the pains of them It is a good remedy in the Spring eaten being first chopped smal and boyled well in Water-gruel to clens the Blood and strengthen the Liver thereby keeping the Body in health and fitting it for that change of Season that is coming Clowns Woundwort ♄ Description IT groweth up somtimes to three or four Foot high but usually about two Foot with square green rough Stalks but slender joynted somwhat far asunder and two very long and somwhat narrow dark green Leavs bluntly dented about the edges thereat ending in a long point The Flowers stand toward the tops compassing the Stalks at the Joynts with the Leavs and end likewise in a spiked â—op having long and much open gaping hoods of a Purplish red colour with whitish spots in them standing in somwhat rough Husks wherin afterwards stand blackish round Seeds The Root is composed of many long strings with some tuberous long Knobs growing among them of a pale yellowish or whitish colour yet at some times of the year these knobby Roots in many places are not seen in the Plant The whol Plant smelleth somwhat strongly Place It groweth in sundry Counties of this Land both North and West and frequently by Path sides in the Fields neer about London and within three or four miles distance about it yet it usually grows in or neer Ditches Time It Flowreth in June and July and the Seed is ripe soon after Vertues and use I is singularly effectual in all fresh and green Wounds and therfore beareth not this name for nought And is very available in stanching of Blood and to dry up the Fluxes of Humors in old fretting Ulcers Cancers c. that hinder the healing of them A Syrup made of the Juyce of it is inferior to none for inward Wounds Ruptures of Veins Bloody Flux Vessels broken spitting pissing or vomiting Blood Ruptures are excellently and speedily even to admiration cured by taking now and then a little of the Syrup and applying an Oyntment or Plaister of the Herb to the place Also if any Vein be swelled or Muscle cut apply a Plaister of this Herb to it and if you ad a little Comfry to it 't wil not do amiss I assure the Herb deservs Commendations though it have gotten but a Clownish name and whoever reades this if he try it as I have done will commend it as well as I. I have done only take notice that it is of a dry Earthy quality and under the Dominion of the Planet Saturn Cocks-Head ♀ Description THis hath divers weak but rough Stalks half a yard long leaning downwards beset with winged Leavs longer and more pointed than those of Lentils and whitish underneath from the tops of these Stalks arise up other slender Stalks naked without Leavs unto the tops where there grow many smal Flowers in manner of a Spike of a pale reddish â—olâ—â—r with some blueness among themâ— after which rise up in their places round rough and somwhat flat Heads The Root is tough and somwhat woody yet liveth and shooteth anew every yeer Place It groweth under Hedges and somtimes in the open Fields in divers places of this Land Time They Flower all the Months of July and August and the Seed ripeneth in the mean while Vertues and use It hath a power to rarifie and digest and therfore the green Leavs bruised and laid as a Plaister disperseth Knots Nodes or Kernels in the Flesh and if when it is dry it be taken in Wine it â—elpeth the Strangury and being anointed with Oyl it provoketh Sweat It is a singular Food for Cattel to caus them to give store of Milk and why then may it not do the like being boyled in the ordinary drink of Nurses ☽ Columbines THese are so wel known growing in almost every Garden that I think I may save the expence of time in writing a Description of them Time They Flower in May and abide not for the most part when June is past perfecting their Seed in the mean time Vertues and use The Leavs of Columbines are commonly used in Lotions with good
especial friend and help to evil weak and cold Livers The Seed is familiarly given to Children for the Worms and so is the infusion of the Flowers in white Wine given them to the Quantity of two ounces at a time It maketh an excellent Salve to clens and heal old Ulcers being boyled with Oyl Olive and Adders Tongue with it and after it is strained to put a little Wax Rozin and Turpentine to bring it into a convenient Body Cudweed or Cottonweed ♄ Description THe common Cudweed riseth up but with one Stalk somtime and somtimes with two or three thick set on all sides with small long and narrow whitish or wooly Leavs from the middle of the Stalk almost up to the top with every Leaf standeth a smal Flower of a dun or brownish yellow colour or not so yellow as others in which Heads after the Flowers are fallen come smal Seed wrapped up with the down therin and is crried away with the Wind. The Root is small and threddy There are other sorts hereof which are somwhat lesser than the former not much different save only that as the Stalk and Leavs are shorter so the Flowers are paler and more open Place They grow in dry barren sandy and gravelly Grounds in most places of this Land Time They Flower about July some earlier some later and their Seed is ripe in August Vertues and use The Plants are all astringent or binding and drying and therfore profitable for Deflnxions of Rhewm from the Head and to stay Fluxes of Blood whersoever The Decoction being made into red Wine and drunk or the Pouder taken therin it also helpeth the Bloody Flux and easeth the torments that come therby stayeth the immoderate Courses of Women and is also good for inward or outward Wounds Hurts and Bruises and helpeth Children both of Burstings and the Worms and the Diseas called Tenasmus which is an often provocation to the Stool and doing nothing being either drunk or injected The green Leavs bruised and laid to any green Wound staieth the bleeding and healeth it up quickly The Decoction or Juyce therof doth the same and helpeth all old and filthy Ulcers quickly The juyce of the Herb taken in Wine and Milk is as Pliny saith a Sovereign remedy against the Mumps and Quinsie and further saith That whosoever shal so take it shal never be troubled with that Diseas again Venus is Lady of it ♀ ♈ Cowslips BOth the Wild and Garden Cowslips are so wel known that I wil neither trouble my self nor the Reader with any description of them Time They Flower in April and May. Vertues and Vse The Flowers are held to be more effectual than the Leavs and the Roots of little use An Oyntment being made with them taketh away Spots and Wrinkles of the Skin Sun-burning and Freckles and ads Beauty exceedingly They remedy all infirmities of the Head coming of Heat and Wind as Vertigo Ephialtes fals apparitions Phrensies Falling-sickness Palsies Convulsions Cramps Pains in the Nerves The Roots eas pains in the Back and Bladder and open the passages of Urine The Leavs are good in Wounds and the Flowers take away trembling If the Flowers be not well dried and kept in a warm place they wil soon putrifie and look green have a special eye over them if you let them see the Sun once a Month it wil do neither the Sun nor them harm Becaus they strengthen the Brain and Nerves and remedy Palsies the Greeks gave them the name Prralisis The Flowers preserved or conserved and the quantity of a Nutmeg eaten every morning is a sufficient Dose for inward Diseases but for Wounds Spots Wrinkles and Sunburning an Oyntment is made of the Leavs and Hogs greas Venus laies claim to the Herb as her own and it is under the Sign Aries and our City Dames know wel enough the Oyntment or Distilled Water of it adds Beauty or at least restores it when it is lost ♄ Sciatica-Cresses Description THese are of two kinds The first riseth up with a round Stalk about two foot high spread into divers Branches whose lower Leavs are somwhat larger than the upper yet all of them cut or torn on the edges somwhat like unto Garden-Cresses but smaller The Flowers are smal and white growing at the tops of the Branches where afterwards grow Husks with smal brownish Seed therin very strong and sharp in tast more than the Cresses of the Garden The Root is long white and woody The other hath the lower leavs whol somwhat long and bread not torn at al but only somwhat deeply dented about the edges towards the ends but those that grow up higher are lesser The Flowers and Seed are like the former and so is the Root likewise and both Root and Seed as sharp as it Place These grow by the way sides in untilled places and by the sides of old Walls Time They Flower in the end of June and their Seed is ripe in July Vertues and use The Leavs but especially the Roots taken fresh in the SuÌ„mer time beaten made into a Pultis or Salve with old Hogs Greas and applied to the place pained with the Sciatica to continue theron four hours if it be on a Man and two hours on a Woman the place afterwards bathed with Wine and Oyl mixed together and then wrapped with Wool or Skins after they have swet a little wil assuredly cure not only the same Diseas in the Hips Hucklebone or other of the Joynts as the Gout in the Hands or Feet but all other old Griefs of the Head as invererate Rhewms and other part of the Body that is hard to be cured And if of the former Griefs any part remain the same Medicine after twenty daies is to be applied again The same is also effectual in the Diseases of the Spleenâ— and applied to the Skin it taketh away the blemishes therof whether they be Scars Leprosie Scabs or Scurf which although it exulcerate the part yet that is to be helped afterwards with a Salve made of Oyl and Wax Esteem of this as another Secret ☽ ♎ Water-Cresses ♄ Description OUr ordinary Water-Cresses spreadeth forth with many weak hollow sappy Stalks shooting out fibres at the Joynts and upwardâ— long winged Leavs made of sundry broad â—sappy and almost round Leavs of a brownish green colour The Flowers are many and white standing on long Footstalks after which come small yellow Seed contained in smal long pods like Horns The whol Plant abideth green in the Winter and tasteth somwhat hot and sharp Place They grow for the most part in the smal standing Waters yet somtimes in smal Rivulets of running Water Time They Flower and Seed in the beginning of Summer Vertues and use They are more powerful against the Scurvy and to clens the Blood and Humors than Brooklime is and serve in al the other uses in which Brooklime is available as to break the
vehement hot things send up but ill favor'd vapors to the brain in chollerick men 't wil ad fuel to the fire in men oppressed by melancholly t'wll attenuate the humor and send up strange sancies and as strange visions to the head therfore let it be taken in wardly with great moderation outwardly you may maken â—â—â— bold with it Mars owns the herb Germander Discription COmmon Germander shooteth forth sundry stalks with small and somwhat round leavs dented about the edges The Flowers stand at the tops of a deep purple colour The Root is composed of divers sprigs which shoot forth a great way round about quickly overspreading a ground Place It groweth usually with us in Gardens Time And flowreth in June or July Vertues and use This taken with Honey saith Dioscorides is a remedy for Coughs for hardnes of the Spleen and difficulty of Urine helpeth those that are fallen into a Dropsie especially at the beginning of the diseas a Decction being made therof when it is green drunk It also bringeth down Womens Courses and expelleth the dead child It is most effectual against the poyson of al Serpents being drunk in Wine and the bruised herb outwardly applyed used with Honey it denseth old and soul Ulcers and made into an Oyl and the Eyes anoynted therwith taketh away their dimness and moystness It is like wise good for the paines in the sides and Cramps The Decetion thereof taken for some daies together driveth away and cureth both Tertian and Quartan Agues It is also good against all diseases of the brain as continual Headach Falling Sicknes Melancholly Drowsines and Dulnes of spirit Convulsions and Palseys A dâ—â—m of the seed taken in Pouder purgeth by Urine and is good against the yellow Jaundice The Juyce of the leaves dropped into the eares killeth the worms in them The tops therof when they are in flower steeped twenty four hours in a draught of white Wine and drunk killeth wormes in the belly It is a most prevalent Herb of Mercury and strengthens the brain and apprehention exceedingly you may see what humane vertues are under Mercury in the latter end of my Ephemeris for 1651. strengthen them when weak relieve them when drooping by this Herb. Stinking Gladwin Description THis is one of the kinds of Flower-de-luces having divers Leavs rising from the Roots very like a Flower-de-luce but that they are sharp edged on both sides and thicker in the middle of a deeper green colour narrower and sharper pointed and of a strong ill scent if they be bruised between the fingers In the midle riseth up a reasonable strong Stalk a yard high at least beareth 3 or 4 Flowers at the top made somwhat like the Flowers of the Flower-de-luce with three upright Leaves of a dead Purplish Ash-colour with some Veins discoloured in them the other three do not fall down nor the three other smal ones are so arched nor cover the lower leaves as the Flower-de-luce doth but stand loose or asunder from them After they are past there come up three square hard Husks opening wide into three parts when they are ripe wherin lie reddish seed tâ—rning black when it hath abidden long The Root is like that of the Flower-de-luce but reddish on the outside and whitish within very sharp and hot in tast of as evil a scent as the leavs Place This groweth as well on the upland grounds as also in moist places in woods and shadowy places by the Sea side in many places of this Land and is usually nursed up in Gardens Time It flowreth not until July and the seed is ripe in August or September yet the Huskes after they are ripe opening themselves will hold their seeds within them for 2 or 3. Months and not shedd them Vertues and Vse It is used by many countrey people to purge corrupt tough Flegm and Choller which they do by drinking the decoction of the Roots and some to make it work more gently do but infuse the sliced roots in Ale and some take the leavs which seryeth wel for the weaker stomachs The Juyce herof put up or snuffed up the nose causeth neezing draweth from the head much corruption the pouder therof doth the same The Pouder therof drunke in wine helpeth those that are troubled with Cramps and Convulsion or W th the Gout or Sciatica and giveth eas to those that have any griping pains in their body or belly and helpeth those that have the Strangury It is given W th much profit to those that have had long Fluxes by the sharp evil quality of humors which it stayeth having first clensed purged them by the drying and binding property therin The Root boyled in wine and drunk doth effectually procure womens courses and used as a Pessary worketh the same effects but causeth Abortion in women with child Half a dram of the seed beaten to pouder and taken in wine doth speedily caus one to pis which otherwis cannot The same taken with vinegar dessolveth the hardnes swellings of the spleen The Root is very effectual in all Wounds and specially of the head as also to draw forth any splinters Thornes Broken bones or any other thing sticking in the flesh without causing pain being used with a little Verdigreese and Honey and the great Centaury Root The same boyled in Vinegar and laid upon any Tumor or Swelling doth very effectually dissolve and consume them yea even the swellings of the Throat called the Kings evil The Juyce of the Leavs and Roots healeth the Itch and all running or spreading Scabs or Sores and Blemishes or Scars in the Skin wheresoever they be Golden Rod. Description THis riseth up with brownish smal round Stalks two foot high and somtimes more having thereon many narrow and long dark greene leaves very seldom with any dents about the edges or any strakes or white spots therin yet they are somtimes so found divided at the tops into many small branches with divers small yellow flowers on every one of them all which are turned one way and being ripe do turn into down are caried away with the wind The Root consisteth of many small fibres which grow not deep in the ground but abideth all the winter therin shooting forth new branches every yeer the old ones dying downe to the ground Place It groweth in the open places of woods and Copses both moyst and dry grounds in many places of this Land Time It Flowreth about the Month of July Vertues and use Arnoldus de villa nova commendeth it much against the Stone in the Reins and Kidneys and to provoke Urine in abundance whereby also the Gravel or Stone may be avoided The Decoction of the Herb green or dry or the distilled Water therof is very effectual for inward Bruises as also to be outwardly applied it stayeth bleedings in any part of the Body and of Wounds also the Fluxes of Humors the Bloody
OUr common Henbane hath very large thick soft woolly Leavs lying upon the ground much cut in or torn on the edges of a dark ill grayish green colour among which rise up divers thick short Stalks two or three foot high spread into divers smaller Branches with lesser Leavs on them and many hollow Flowers scarce appearing above the Husks and usually torn on the one side ending in five round points growing one above another of a deadish yellow colour somwhat paler toward the edges with many purplish Veins therein and of a dark yellowish purple in the bottom of the Flower with a smal pointel of the same colour in the middle each of them standing in hard close Husk which after the Flower is past groweth very like the Husk of Asarabacca and somwhat sharp at he top Points wherein is contained much smal Seed very like Poppy Seed but of a dusky grayish colour The Root is great white and thick branching forth divers waies under ground so like a Parsnip Root but that it is not so white that it hath deceived divers The whol Plant more than the Root hath a heavy ill soporiferous smell somwhat offensive Place It commonly groweth by the way sides and under Hedg sides and Wals. Time It Flowreth in July and springeth again yeerly of its own Seed I doubt my Author mistook July for June if not for May. Vertues and Vse The Leavs of Henbane do cool all hot Inflamations in the Eyes or any other part of the Body and are good to asswage all manner of Swellings of the Cods or Womens Breasts or els where if they be boyled in Wine and either applied themselves or the Fomentation warm it also asswageth the pain of the Gout the Sciatica and all other pains in the Joynts which arise from an hot caus And applied with Vinegar to the Forehead and Temples helpeth the Headach and want of sleep in hot Feavers The Juyce of the Herb or Seed or the Oyl drawn from the Seed doth the like The Oyl of the Seed is helpful for the Deafness Nois and Worms in the Ears being dropped therein the Juyce of the Herb or Root doth also the same The Decoction of the Herb or Seed or both killeth Lice in Man and Beast The fume of the dried Herb Stalks and Seed burned quickly healeth Swellings Chilblains or Kibes in the Hands or Feet by holding them in the fume thereof The Remedy to help those that have taken Henbane is to drink Goats Milk Honyed Water or Pine Kernels with Sweet Wine or in the absence of these Fennel Seed Nettle Seed the Seed of Cresses Mustard or Radish as also Onions or Garlick taken in wine do all help to free them from danger and restore them to their due temper again Take notice that this Herb must never be taken inwardly outwardly an Oyl Oyntment or Plaister of it is most admirable for the Gout to cool the Venerial heat of the Reins in the French Pox to stop the Tooth-ach being applied to the aching side to allay all Inflamations and to help the Diseases before premised I wonder in my Heart how Astrologers could take on them to make this an Herb of Jupiter and yet Mizaldus a man of a penetrating Brain was also of this Opinion as wel as the rest the Herb is indeed under the Dominion of Saturn and I prove it by this Argument All the Herbs which delight most to grow in Saturnine places are Saturnine Herbs But Henbanc delights most to grow in Saturnine places and whol Cart loads of it may be found neer the places where they empty the common Jakes and scarce a stinking Ditch to be found without it growing by it Ergo 't is an Herb of Saturn Herb Robert Description THis riseth up with a reddish stalk two foot high having divers leaves thereon upon very long and reddish footstalkes divided at the ends into three or five divisions each of them cut in on the edges some deeper then others and all dented likewise about the edges which often tims turn reddish At the tops of the stalk come forth divers flowers made of five leavs much larger then the Doves foot and of a more reddeish colour after which come beak heads as in others The Roote is small and threddy and smelleth as the whole plant very strong almost stinking Place This groweth frequently every where by way sides upon ditch banks and wast grounds whersoever one goeth Time It flowreth in June and July chiefly and the seed is ripe shortly after Vertues and use Herb Robert is commended not only against the stone but to stay bloud where or howsoever flowing it speedily healeth all green wounds and is effectual in old ulcers in the peivy parts or else where You may perswade your self this is true and also conceive a good reason for it if you you doe but consider 't is an herb of Venus for al it hath gotten a mans name Herb True-love OR One-berry Description THe ordinary Herb True-love hath a small creeping Root running under the upper crust of the ground somwhat like a Coutchgrass Root but not so white shooting forth stalks with leavs some wherof carry no berries though others do every stalk smooth without Joynts and blackith green rising about half a foot high if it bear berries otherwise seldom so high bearing at the top four leaves set directly one against another in maner of a Cross or a Riband tied as it is called on a True-loues Knot which are each of them a part somwhat like unto a Nightshade Leaf but somwhat broader having somtimes but three Leavs somtimes five somtimes six and these somtimes greater than in others In the middle of the four Leavs fiseth up one smal slender Stalk about an inch high bearing at the top thereof one Flower spread open like a Star consisting of four small and narrow long pointed Leavs of a yellowish green colour and four other lying between them lesser than they in the middle wherof standeth a round dark purplish Bâ—tton or Head compassed about with eight smal yellow Mealy thâ— eds with three colours make it the more conspicuous and lovely to behold This Button or Head in the middle when the other Leavs are withered becometh a blackish Purple Berry full of Juyce of the bigness of a reasonable Grape having within it many white Seeds The whol Plant is without any manifest tast Place It groweth in Woods and Copseâ— and somtimes in the corners or borders of Fields and wast Grounds in very many places of this Land and abundantly in the Woods Gopses and other places about Chisselhurst and Maidstone in Kent Time They spring up in the middle of April or May and are in Flower soon after The Barries are ripe in the end of May and in some places in June Vertues and Vse The Leavs or Berries hereof are effectual to expel poyson of all sorts especially that of the Aconites as also the
Plague and other Pestilential Diseases Some have been holpen therby saith Mathiolus that have lien long in a lingring sickness and others that by Witchcraft as it was thought were become half foolish by taking a dram of the Seed or Berries hereof in Pouder every day for twenty daies together they were restored to their former health The Roots in Pouder taken in Wine easeth the pains of the Chollick speedily The Leavs are very effectual as well for green Wounds as to clens and heal up old filthy Sores and Ulcers and is very powerful to discuss all Tumors and Swellings in the Cods privy Parts or Groyn or in any part of the Body and speedily to ally all Inflamations The Leavs or their Juyce applied to Felons or those Nails of the Hands or Toes that have Imposthumes or Sotes gathered together at the Roots of them healeth them in short space The Herb is not to be described for the premises but is fit to be noutished in every good Womans Garden Venus owns it Hysop THis is so well known to be an Inhabitant in every Garden that it wil save me Labor in writing a Description thereof The Vertues are as followeth Vertues and use Dioscorides saith that Hysop boyled with Rue and Honey and drunk helpeth those that are troubled with Coughs shortness of breath wheesing and Rhewmatick Distillations upon the Lungs Taken also with Oximel it purgeth gross Humors by the Stool and with Honey killeth Worms in the Belly and with fresh or new Figs bruised helpeth to loosen the Belly and more forcibly if the Root of Flower-de-luce and Cresses be added therto It amendeth and cherisheth the Native colour of the Body spoiled by the yellow Jaundice and being taken with Figs and Nitre helpeth the Dropsie and the Spleen Being boyled with Wine it is good to wash Inflamations and taketh away black and blew Spots and Marks that come by Strokes Bruises or Fals being applied with warm Water It is an excellent Medicine for the Quinsie or Swelling in the Throat to wash and gargle it being boyled with Figs. It helpeth the Tooth-ach being boyled in Vinegar and gargled therwith The hot Vapors of the Decoction taken by a Funnel in at the Ears easeth the Inflamations and singing nois of them Being bruised and Salt Honey and Cummin Seed put to it it helpeth those that are stung by Serpents The Oyl thereof being anoynted killeth Liâ—e and taketh away Itching of the Head It helpeth those that have the Falling-sickness which way soever it be applied It helpeth to expectorate tough Flegm and is effectual in al cold Griefs or Diseases of the Chest and Lungs being taken either in a Syrup or licking Medicine The green Herb bruised and a little Sugar put thereto doth quickly heal any cut or green Wound being thereunto applied The Herb is Jupiters and the Sign Cancer It strengthens all the parts of the Body under cancer and Jupiter which what they be may be found amply discoursed of in my Astrological Judgment of Diseases Hops THese are so well known that they need no Description I mean the manured kind which every good Husband or Huswife is acquainted with The wild Hop groweth up as the other doth ramping upon Trees or Hedges that stand next unto them with rough branches and Leavs like the former but it giveth smaller Heads in far less plenty than it so that there is scarce a Head or two seen in a year on divers of this wild kind wherein consisteth the chief difference Place They delight to grow on low moist grounds and are found in all parts of this Land Time They spring not up until April and Flower not until the latter end of June the heads are not gathered until the middle or latter end of September Vertues and use This Physical operation is to open Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen to clens the Blood to loosen the Belly to clens the Reins from Gravel and provoke Urine The Decoction of the tops of Hops as well of the tame as the wild worketh the same effects In cleansing the Blood they help to cure the French Diseas and al manner of Scabs Itch and other breakings out in the Body as also al Tetters Ringworms and spreading Sores the Morphew and all discolourings of the Skin The Decoction of the Flowers and tops do help to expel poyson that any one hath drunk Half a dram of the Seed in Pouder taken in drink killeth Worms in the Body bringeth down Womens Courses and expelleth Urin A Syrup made of the Juyce and Sugar cureth the yellow Jaundice easeth the Headach that comes of Heat and tempereth the heat of the Liver and Stomach and is profitably given in long and hot Agues that rise of Choller and Blood Both the wild and the manured are of one property and alike effectual in al the aforesaid Diseases By all these Testimonies Beer appears to be better than Ale Mars owns the Plant and then Dr. Reason will tell you how it performs these actions Horehound Description COmmon Horehound groweth up with square hoary Stalks half a yard or two foot high set at the Joynts with two round crumpled rough Leavs of a sullen hoary green colour of a reasonable good scent but a very bitter tast The Flowers are smal white and gaping set in rough hard prickly Husks round about the Joynts with the Leaves from the middle of the Stalk upwards wherein afterwards is found smal round blackish Seed The Root is blackish hard and woody with many strings ther eat and abideth many years Place It is found in many parts of this Land in dry grounds and wast green places Time It Flowreth in or about July and the Seed is ripe in Augst Vertues and Vse A Decoction of the dried Herb with the Seed or the Juyce of the green Herb taken with Honey is a Remedy for those that are pursie or short winded or have a Cough or are fallen into a Consumption either through long sickness or thin Distillations of Rhewm upon the Lungs It helpeth to expectorate tough Flegm from the Chest being taken with the Roots of Iris or Orris It is given to Women to bring down their Courses to expel the Afterbirth and to them that have sore and long Travails as also to those that have taken Poyson or are stung or bitten by Venemous Serpents The Leavs used with Honey purge foul Ulcers stay running or creeping sores and the growing of the Flesh over the Nails It also helpeth pains of the sides The Juyce thereof with Wine and Honey helpeth to cleer the Eyesight and snuffed up into the Nostrils purgeth away the yellow Jaundice and with a little Oyl of Roses dropped into the Ears easeth the pains of them Galen saith it openeth Obstructions both of the Liver and Spleen purgeth the Breast and Lungues of Flegm and used outwardly it both clenseth and digesteth A Decoction of Horchound saith Mathiolus is available for those that have
Papers or in a wet double Cloth and thereof a Suppository made and put up into or applied to the Fundament doth very effectually help the painful Piles or Hemorrhoids The distilled Water of the Herb and Roots is very good to al the purposes aforesaid to be used as wel inwardly to drink as outwardly to wash any sore places for it healeth al manner of Wounds and Punctures and those foul Ulcers that arise by the French Pox. Mizaldus ads to this that the Leavs laid under the Feet wil keep the Dogs from barking at you Houdstongue becaus it ties the Tongue of Hounds whether it be true or not I never tried yet I have cured the biting of a mad Dog with this only Medicine St. Johns-wort Description THe common St. Johns-wort shooteth forth brownish upright hard round Stalks two foot high spreading many Branches from the sides up to the tops of them with two smal Leavs set one against another at every place which are of a deep green colour somwhat like the Leavs of the lesser Centaury but narrower and ful of smal holes in every Leaf which cannot be so wel perceived as when they are held up to the light At the tops of the Stalks and Branches stand yellow Flowers made of five Leavs apiece with many yellow threds in the middle which being bruised do yeild a reddish Juyce like blood after which come smal round Heads wherein is contained smal blackish Seed smelling like Rozin The Root is hard and woody with divers strings and fibres at it and of a brownish colour which abideth in the ground many yeers shooting anew every Spring Place This groweth in Woods and Copses as wel those that are shady as open to the Sun Time They Flower about Midsummer and in July and their Seed is ripe in the latter end of July or in August Vertues and use St. Johns-wort is as singular a Wound Herb as any other whatsoever either for inward Wounds Hurts or Bruises to be boyled in Wine and drunk or prepared into Oyl or Oyntment Bath or Lotion outwardly It hath power to open Obstructions to dissolve Swellings to close up the Lips of Wounds and to strengthen the parts that are weak feeble The Decoction of the Herb and Flowers but of the Seed especially in Wine being drunk or the Seed made into Pouder and drunk with the Juyce of Knotgrass helpeth al manner of spitting and Vomiting of Blood be it by any Vein broken inwardly by Bruises Falls or howsoever The same helpeth those that are bitten or stung by any Venemous Creature And is good for those that are troubled with the Stone in their Kidneys or that cannot make water and being applied provoketh Womens Courses Two drams of the Seed of St. Johns-wort made into Pouder and drunk in a little Broth doth gently expel Choller or congealed Blood in the Stomach The Decoction of the Leavs and Seeds being drunk somwhat warm before the Fits of Agues whether they be Tertians or Quartanes doth alter the fits and by often using doth take them quite away The Seed is much commended being drunk for forty daies together to help the Sciatica the Falling sickness and the Palsey It is under the Coelestial Sign Leo and under the Dominion of the Sun it may be if you meet with a Papist that is an Astrologer he will tel you St. John made it over to him by a Letter of Attourney especially if withal he be a Lawyer also Ivy. Description THis is so well known to every Child also to grow in Woods upon the Trees and upon the stone Walls of Churches Houses c. and somtimes to grow alone of it self though but seldom Time It Flowreth not until July and the Berries are not ripe til Christide that they have felt the Winter Frosts Vertues and use A pugil of the Flowers which may be about a dram saith Dioscorides drunk twice a day in red Wine helpeth the Lask and Bloody Flux It is an enemy to the Nerves and Sinews being much taken inwardly but very helpful unto them being outwardly applied Plâ—â—y saith that the yellow Berries are good against the Jaundice and taken before one be set to drink hard preserveth from drunkenness and helpeth those that spit Blood and that the white Berries being taken inwardly or applied outwardly killeth the Worms in the Belly The Berries are a singular Remedy to prevent the Plague as also to free them from it that have got it by drinking the Berries therof made in Pouder for two or three daies together They being taken in Wine do certainly help to break the Stone provoke Urine and Womens Courses The fresh Leavs of Ivy boyled in Vinegar and applied warm to the sides of those that are troubled with the Spleen Ach or Stitch in the sides doth give them much eas The same applied with some Rosewater and Oyl of Roses to the Temples and Forehead easeth the Headach though it be of long continuace The fresh Leavs boyled in Wine and old filthy Ulcers that are hard to be cured washed therewith doth wonderfully help to clens and heal them it also quickly healeth green Wounds as also it is effectual to heal al Burnings and Scaldings and all kind of ezuicerations coming thereby or by Salt Flegm or hot Humors in other parts of the Body The Juyce of the Berries or Leavs snuffed up into the Nose purgeth the Head and Brain of thin Rhewm that maketh Defluxions into the Eyes and Nose and cureth the Ulcers and Stench therin The same dropped into the Ears helpeth the old and running Sores of them Those that are troubled with the Spleen shal find much eas by continual drinking out of a Cup made of Ivy so as the drink may stand some smal time therin before it be drunk Cato saith that Wine put into such a Cup wil soak through it by reason of the Antipathy that is between them There seems to be a very Antipathy between Wine and Ivy for if any have got a surfet by drinking Wine his speediest cure is to drink a draught of the same Wine wherein a handful of Ivy Leavs being first bruised have been boyled Kidneywort or WallPenyroyal ♀ ♎ Description THis hath many thick flat and round Leavs growing from the Root every one having a long Footstalk fastned underneth about the middle of it and a little unevenly waved somtimes about the edges of a pale green colour and somwhat hollow on the upper side like a Sawcer from among which rise one or more tender smooth hollow Stalks half a foot high with two or three smal Leavs thereon usually not round as those below but somwhat long and devided at the edges The tops are somtimes devided into long Branches bearing a number of Flowers set round about a long spike one above another which are hollow and like a little Bell of a whitish green colour after which come smal Heads
is not able to stand upright but bendeth down to the Ground devided at the top into two or three smal Branches with smal yellowish green Heads and Flowers of a whitish colour breaking out of them which being past there cometh smal yellow Seed like Poppy Seed The Root is somwhat long and black with many strings or fibres thereat Place It groweth naturally in many Pastures and Wood sides in Harfordshire wiltshire and Kent and other places of this Land Time It Flowreth in May and June and abideth after Seed time green al the Winter Vertues and Use. Ladies-Mantle is very proper for those Wounds that have Inflamations and is very effectual to stay Bleedings Vomitings Fluxes of al sorts in man or woman and Bruises by Fals or otherwise and helpeth Ruptures and such Women or Maids as have over great Flagging Breasts causing them to grow less and hard being both drunk and outwardly applied The distilled water drunk for twenty daies together helpeth Conception and to retain the Birth if the Woman do somtimes also sit in a Bath made of the Decoction of the Herb. It is one of the most singular Wound Herbs that is and therfore highly prized and praised by the Germans who use in al Wounds inward and outward to drink the Decoction thereof and wash the Wounds therewith or dip Tents therein and put them into the Wounds which wonderfully drieth up al humidity of the Sores and abateth Inflamations therein It quickly healeth al green Wounds not suffering any corruption to remain behind and cureth old Sores though Fistulous and hollow Venus claims the Herb as her own ☿ Lavender THis is so wel known being an Inhabitant in almost every Garden that it needeth no Description Time It flowreth about the end of June and beginning of July Vertues and Use. Lavender is of special good use for all the Griefs and pains of the Head and Brains that proceed of a cold caus as the Apoplexy Falling-sickness the drowsie or sluggish Malady Cramps Convulsions Palseys and often Faintings It strengtheneth the Stomach and freeth the Liver and Spleen from Obstructions provoketh Womens Courses and expelleth the dead Child and Afterbirth The Flowers of Lavender steeped in Wine helpeth them to make water that are stopped or are troubled with the Wind or Chollick if the places be bathed therewith A Decoction made with the Flowers of Lavender Horehound Fennel and Asparagus Roots and a little Cinnamon is very profitably used to help the Falling-sickness and the giddiness or turning of the Brain To gargle the Mouth with the Decoction thereof is good against the Toothach Two spoonfuls of the distilled Water of the Flowers taken helpeth them that have lost their voice as also the tremblings and passions of the Heart and faintings and swounings not only being drunk but applied to the Temples or Nostrils to be smelt unto but it is not safe to use it where the Body repleat with Blood and Humors becaus of the hot and subtil spirits wherewith it is possessed The Chimical Oyl drawn from Lavender usually called Oyl of Spike is of so fierce and piercing Spirits that it is cautiously to be used some few drops being sufficient to be given with other things either for inward or outward Griefs Mercury owns the Herb and it carries his effects very potently Lavender Cotten hath the same Vertues with Southernwood which shal be shewed you when I come to speak of it ☽ ♋ Lettice THis is so wel known being generally used as a Sallet Herb that it is altogether needless to write any Description thereof Vertues and Use. The Juyce of Lettice mixed or boyled with Oyl of Roses and applied to the Forehead and Temples procureth Sleep and easeth the Headach proceeding of an hot caus being eaten boyled it helpeth to loosen the Belly It helpeth digestion quencheth thirst encreaseth Milk in Nurses easeth griping pains of the Stomach or Bowels that come of Choller It abateth Bodily lust represseth Venereous Dreams being outwardly applied to the Cods with a little Camphire Applied in the same manner to the Region of the Heart Liver or Reins or by bathing the said place with the Juyce or distilled Water wherein some white Sanders and red Roses are put also it not only represseth the heat and Inflamation therein but comforts and strengthens those parts and also tempereth the heat of Urine Galen adviseth old men to use it with Spices and where Spices are wanting to ad Mints Rocket and such like hot Herbs or els Citron Lemmon or Orange Seeds to abate the cold of one and heat of the other The Seed and distilled Water of the Lettice work the like effects in al things but the use of Lettice is chiefly forbidden to those that are short winded or have any imperfection in their Lungs or spit Blood The Moon owns them and that 's the reason they cool and moisten what heat and driness Mars causeth because Mars hath his fall in Cancer and they cool the Heart becaus the Sun rules it between whom and the Moon is a Reccption in the Generation of Man as you may soe in my Guide for women The VVater-Lilly ☽ Description OF these there are two principally noted kinds Viz. Thewhite and the Yellow The white Lilly hath very large round and thick dark green Leavs lying on the Water sustained by long and thick Footstalks that rise from a great thick round and long tuberous black Root spungy or loos with many Knobs thereon like Eyes and whitish within from amidst the which rise other the like thick and great Stalks sustaining one large white Flower thereon green on the outside but as white as Snow within consisting of divers rows of long and somwhat thick and narrow Leavs smaller and thinner the more inward they be encompassing a head within w th many yellow threds or thrums in the middle where after they are past stand round Poppylike Heads ful of broad Oyly and bitter Seed The yellow kind is little different from the former save only it hath fewer Leavs on the Flowers greater and more shining Seed and a whitish Root both within and without The Roots of both being somwhat sweet in tast Place They are sound growing in great Pools and standing Waters and somtimes in slow running Rivers and lesser Ditches of Water in sundry places of this Land Time They Flower most commonly about the end of May and their Seed is ripe in August Vertues and use The Leavs and Flowers of the Water-Lillies are cold and moist but the Root and Seed is cold and dry The Leavs do cool al Inflamations and both outward and inward heats of Agues and so doth the Flowers also either by the Syrup or Conserve The Syrup helpeth much to procure rest and to settle the Brains of Frantick persons by cooling the hot distemperature of the Head The Seed as wel as the Root is effectual to stay Fluxes of Blood or Humors either of Wounds
blindness so as the Christaline humor be not perished or hurt and this hath been sufficiently proved true by the experience of a man of judgment who kept it long to himself as a great sccret It also cleareth the Eyes of dust or any other thing gotten into them and preserveth the Sight It is also very much available against Wounds and Thrusts being made into an Oyntment on this manner To every ounce of the Water ad two drams of May Butter without Salt and of Sugar and Wax of each as much also let them boyl gently all together Let Tents be dipped in the Liquor that remaineth after it is cold and put into the Wounds and the place covered with a Linnen cloth doubled and anointed with the Oyntment and this is also an approved Medicine It likewise clenseth and healeth all foul Ulcers and Sores wheresoever and staieth their Inflamations by washing them with the Water and laying on them a green Leaf or two in the Summer or dry Leaves in the Winter This Water gargled warm in the Mouth and somtimes drunk also doth cure the Quinsie or Kings Evil in the Throat The said Water applied warm taketh away all Spots Marks and Scars in the Skin And a little of it drunk quencheth thirst when it is extraordinary The Herb is an Herb of the Moon and under the Sign Cancer neither do I know a better Preserver of the Sight when 't is well nor a better Curer of sore Eyes than Eyebright taken inwardly and this used outwardly 't is cold in quality ☉ ☿ Lovage Description THis hath many long and great Stalks of large winged Leavs devided into many parts like Smallage but much larger and greater every Leaf being cut about the edges broadest forwards and smallest at the Stalk of a sad green colour smooth and shining from among which rise up sundry strong hollow green Stalks five or six foot yea somtimes seven or eight foot high full of Joynts but lesser Leavs set at them than grow below and with them toward the tops come forth long Branches hearing at their tops large Umbels of yellow Flowers and after them flat brownish Seed The Root groweth thick great and deep spreading much and enduring long of a brownish colour on the outside and whitish within The whol Plant and every part of it smelleth strong and Aromatically and is of an hot sharp biting tast Place It is usually planted in Gardens where if it be suffered it groweth huge and great Time It Flowreth in the end of July and seedeth in August Vertues and Use. It openeth cutteth and digesteth Humors and mightily provoketh Womens Courses and Urine Half a dram at a time of the dried Root in Pouder taken in Wine doth wonderfully warm a cold Stomach helping digestion and consuming all raw superfluous moisture therein easeth al inward gripings and pains dissolveth wind and resisteth Poyson and infection It is a known and much practised Remedy to drink the Decoction of the Herb for any sort of Ague and to help the pains and Torments of the Body and Bowels coming of cold The Seed is effectual to al the purposes aforesaid except the last and worketh more powerfully The distilled water of the Herb helpeth the Quinsie in the Throat if the Mouth and Throat be gargled and washed therewith and helpeth the Pluresie being drunk three or four times Being dropped into the Eyes it taketh away the redness or dimness of them it likewise taketh away Spots or Freckles in the Face The Leavs bruised and fried with a little Hogs Lard laid hot to any Botch or Boyl wil quickly break it It is an Herb of the Sun under the Sign Taurus if Saturn offend the Throat as he alwaies doth if he be occasioner of the Malady and in Taurus in the Genesis this is your cure Lungwort Description THis is a kind of Moss that groweth on sundry sorts of Trees especially Oaks and Beeches with broad grayish tough Leavs diversly folded crumpled and gashed in on the edges and somtimes spotted also with many smal spots on the upper side It was never seen to bear any Stalk or Flower at any time Vertues and Use. This is of great use with many Phystians to help the Diseases of the Lungs and for Coughs Wheesings and shortness of breath which it cureth both in Man and Beast It is very profitably put into Lotions that are taken to stay the moist Humors that flow to Ulcers and hinder their healing as also to wash all other Ulcers in the privy parts of Man or Woman It is an excellent Remedy boyled in Beer for broken-winded Horses Iuâ—â— seems to own the Herb. Madder Description THe Garden Madder shooteth forth many very long weak four square reddish Stalks trailing on the Ground a great way very rough or hairy and full of Joynts At every of those Joynts come forth divers long and somwhat narrow Leavs standing like a Star about the Stalks rough also and hairy toward the tops whereof come forth many smal pale yellow Flowers after which come smal round Heads green at first and reddish afterwards but black when they are ripe wherin is contained the Seed The Root is not very great but exceeding long running down half a mans length into the grouund red and very clear while it is fresh spreading divers waies Place It is only manured in Gardens or larger Fields for the profit that is made thereof Time It Flowreth towards the end of Summer and the Seed is ripe quickly after Vertues and Use. It hath an opening quality and afterwards to bind and strengthen It is an assured Remedy for the yellow Jaundice by opening the Obstructions of the Liver and Gall and clensing those parts It openeth also the Obstructions of the Spleen and diminisheth the Melanchollick humor It is available for the Palsey and Sciatica and effectual for Bruises inward or outward and is therfore much used in Vulnerary Drinks The Root for all those aforesaid purposes is to be boyled in Wine or Water as the caus requireth and some Honey or Sugar put therunto afterwards The Seed herof taken with Vinegar and Honey helpeth the Swellings and Hardness of the Spleen The Decoction of the Leaves and Branches is a good Fomentation for Women to sit over thar have not their Courses The Leavs and Roots beaten and applied to any part that is discoloured with Freckles Morphew the white Scurf or any such deformity of the Skin clenseth them throughly and taketh them away Maidenhair Description OUr common Maidenhair doth from a number of hard black Fibres send forth a great many blackish shining brittle Stalks hardly a span long in many not half so long on each side set very thick with smal round dark green Leavs and spotted on the back of them like other Ferns Place It groweth much upon old Stone Wals in in the West parts and Wales in Kent and divers other places of this Land It joyeth
wherunto a little Honey and Allum is put is an excellent Gargle to wash clens and heal any sore Mouth or Throat in a short space If the Feet be bathed or washed with the Decoction of the Leavs Roots and Flowers it helpeth much the Defluxions of Rhewm from the Head If the Head be washed therewith it staieth the falling and shedding of the Hair The green Leavs saith Pliny beaten with Nitre and applied draweth out Thorns or Pricks in the Flesh. The Marsh Mallows are more effectual in al the Diseases before mentioned The Leavs are likewise used to loosen the Belly gently and in Decections for Clysters to eas al pains of the Body opening the strait Passages and making them slippery whereby the Stone may descend the more easily and without pain out of the Reins Kidneys and Bladder and to eas the torturing pains thereof But the Roots are of more especial use for those purposes as well as for Coughs Hoarsness shortness of Breath and Wheesings being boyled in Wine or Honeyed Water and drunk The Roots and Seeds hereof boyled in Wine or Water is with good success used by them that have Excoriations in the Guts or the bloody Flux by qualifying the violence of the sharp fretting Humors easing the pains and healing the Soreness It is profitably taken of them that are troubled with Ruptures Cramps or Convulsions of the Sinews and boyled in white Wine for the Impostumes of the Throat commonly called the Kings Evil and of those Kernels that rise behind the Ears and inflamations or Swellings in Womens Breasts The dried Roots boyled in Milk and drunk is special good for the Chin-Cough Hippocrates used to give the Decoction of the Roots or the Juyce therof to drink to those that were wounded and ready to faint through loss of Blood and applied the same mixed with Honey and Rozin to the Wounds As also the Roots boyled in Wine to those that had received any Hurt by Bruises Falls or Blows or had any Bone or Member out of Joynt or any Swelling pain or ach in the Muscles Sinews or Arteries The Muccilage of the Roots and of Linseed and of Fennugreek put together is much used in Pultises Oyntments and Plaisters to mollifie and digest all hard Swellings and the Inflamation of them and to eas pains in any part of the Body The Seed either green or dry mixed with Vinegar clenseth the Skin of the Morphew and al other discolourings being bathed therewith in the Sun You may remember that not long since there was a raging Diseas called the Bloody Flux the Colledg of Physitians not knowing what to make of it called it the Plague in the Guts for their wits were at ne plus ultra about it My son was taken with the same Diseas and the excoriation of his Bowels was exceeding great my self being in the Country was sent for up the only thing I gave him was Mallows bruised and boyled both in his Milk and Drink in two daies the blessing of God being upon it it cured him and I here to shew my thankfulness to God in communicating it to his Creatures leav it to posterity ☿ ♈ Sweet Marjerom THis is so wel known being an Inhabitant in every Garden that it is needless to write any Description thereof neither of the Winter Sweet Marjerom nor Pot Marjerom Place They grow commonly in Gardens some sorts there are that grow wild in the Borders of Corn Fields and Pastures in sundry places of this Land but it is not my purpose to insist upon them The Garden kinds being most used and useful Time They Flower in the end of Summer Vertues and use Our common Sweet Marjerom is warming and comfertable in cold Diseases of the Head Stomach Sinews and other parts taken inwardly or outwardly applied The Decoction thereof being drunk helpeth al the Diseases of the Chest which hinder the freeness of breathing and is also profitable for the Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen It helpeth the cold Griefs of the Womb and the windiness thereof and the loss of Speech by resolution of the Tongue The Decoction thereof made with som Pellitory of Spain and long Pepper or with a little Acorus or Origanum being drunk is good for those that are beginning to fall into a Dropsie for those that cannot make Water and against pains and torments in the Belly it provoketh Womens Courses if it be put up as a Pessary Being made into Pouder and mixed with Honey it taketh away the black marks of Blows and Bruises being therto applied It is good for the Inflamations and watering of the Eyes being mixed with fine Flower and laid unto them The Juyce dropped into the Ears easeth the Pains and singing nois in them It is profitably put into those Oyntments and Salves that are made to warm and comfort the outward parts as the Joynts and Sinews for Swellings also and places out of Joynt The Pouder thereof snuffed up into the Nose provoketh neezing and thereby purgeth the Brain and chewed in the Mouth draweth forth much Flegm The Oyl made thereof is very warming and comfortable to the Joynts that are stiff and the Sinews that are hard to mollifie and supple them Marjerom is much used in all odoriferous Waters Pouders c. that are for Ornament or delight It is an Herb of Mercury and under Aries and is therfore an excellent Remedy for the Brain and other parts of the Body and Mind under the Dominion of the same Planet ☉ ♌ Marigolds THese being so pelentifull in every Garden are so well known that they need no Description Time They Flower al the Summer long and somtimes in the Winter if it be mild Vertues and Use The Flowers either green or dryed are used much in Possets broths and drinkes as a comforter of the Heart and spirits and to expell any malignant or pestilential quality which might annoy them It is an Herb of the Sun and under Leo they strengthen the heart exceedingly and are very expulsive and little less Effectual in the smal pox and measles than Saffron The Juyce of Marigold Leaves mixed with Vinegar and any hot swelling bathed with it instantly giveth ease and asswageth it A plaister made with the dry Flowers in pouder hogs greas Turpentine and Rozin and applyed to the breast strengthens and succours the heart infinitly in feavers whether pestilential or not pestileutiall ♂ Masterwort Description Common Masterwort hath divers stalks of winged Leaves devided into sundry parts three for the most part standing together at a small footstalk on both sides of the greater and three likewise at the end of the stalk somwhat broad and cut in on the edges into three or more devisions all of them dented about the brims of a dark green colour somwhat resembling the Leaves of Angelica but that these grow lower to the ground on lesser stalks among which
mean the common kind that it needeth no Description There is a greater kind than the ordinary sort found wild with us which so abideth being brought into Gardens and differeth not from it but only in the largeness of the Leavs and Stalks in rising higher and not creeping upon the ground so much The Flowers whereof are Purple growing in Rundles about the Stalk like the other Place The first which is common in Gardens groweth also in many moist and watery places of this Land The second is sound wild in Essex in divers places by the High-way from London â—to Colechester and thereabouts more abundantly than in other Countries and is also planted in their Gardens in Essex Time They Flower in the latter end of Summer about August Vertues and Use. Dioscorides saith That Peny-royal maketh thin tough Flegm warmeth the coldness of any part whereto it is apylied and digesteth raw or corrupt matter Being boyled drunk it provoketh Womens Courses and expelleth the dead Child and afterbirth and staieth the disposition to Vomit being taken in Water and Vinegar mingled together And being mingled with Honey and Salt it avoideth Flegm out of the Lungs and purgeth Melancholly by the Stool Drunk with Wine it helpeth such as are bitten or stung with Venemous Beasts and applied to the Nostrils with Vinegar reviveth those that are fainting and swouning Being dried and burnt it strengtheneth the Gums It is helpful to those that are troubled with the Gout being applied of it self to the place until it wax red and applied in a Plaister it taketh away spots or marks in the Face Applied with Salt it profiteth those that are Splenetick or Liver-grown The Decoction doth help the Itch if washed therwith Being put into Baths for Women to sit therein it helpeth the Swelling and hardness of the Mother The green Herb bruised and put into Vinegar clenseth foul Ulcers and taketh away the marks and bruises of blows about the Eyes and all discolourings of the Face by fire yea and the Leprosie being drunk and outwardly applied Boyled in Wine with Honey and Salt it helpeth the Toothach It helpeth the cold Griefs of the Joynts taking away the pains and warming the cold parts being fast bound to the place after a bathing or sweating in an hot hous Pliny addeth that Penny-royal and Mints together help faintings or swounings being put into Vinegar and put to the Nostrils to be smelled unto or a little thereof put into the Mouth It easeth the Headach and the pains of the Breast and Belly stayeth the gnawing of the Stomach and inward pains of the Bowels being drunk in Wine it provoketh Womens Courfes and expelleth the dead child and afterbirth Being given in Wine it helpeth the Falling-sickness Put into unwholsom or stinking Water that men must drink as at Sea and where other cannot be had it maketh them the less hurtful It helpeth Cramps or Convulsions of the Sinews being applied with Honey Salt and Vinegar It is very effectual for the Cough being boyled in Milk and drunk and for Ulcers or Sores in the Mouth Mathiolus saith The Decoction thereof being drunk helpeth heâ—Jaundice and Dropsie and all pains of the Head and Sinews that come of a cold caus and that it helpeth to clearâ— and quicken the Eye-sight Applied to the Nostrils of those that have the Falling-sicknessâ— or the Lethargy or put into the Mouth it helpeth them much being bruised and with Vinegar applied And applied with Barley Meal it helpeth Burnings by fire and put into the Ears easeth the pains of them The Herb is under Venus Peony Mas. Femina Description THe Male Peony riseth up with many brownish Stalks whereon grow many fair green and somtimes reddish Leavs one set against another upon a Stalk without any particular devision in the Leaf at all The Flowers stand at the tops of the Stalks consisting of five or six broad Leavs of a fair purplish red colour with many yellow threds in the middle standing about the Head which after riseth to be the Seed Vessels devided into two three or four rough crooked Pods like Horns which being ful ripe open and turn themselves down one edge to another backward shewing within them divers round black shining Seed having also many red or Crimson grains intermixed with the black whereby it maketh a very pretty shew The Roots are great thick and long spreading and running down reasonable deep in the Ground The ordinary Female Peony hath many Stalks and more Leavs on them than the Male the Leavs not so large but nicked diversly on the edges some with great and deep others with smaller cuts and devisions of a dark or dead green colour The Flowers are of a strong heady scent most usually smaller and of a more purple colour than the Male with yellow thrums about the Head as the Male hath The Seed Vessels are like Horns as in the Male but smaller the Seed also is black but less shining The Roots consist of many thick and short tuberous clogs fastned at the ends of long strings and all from the Head of the Root which is thick and short and of the like scent with the Male. Place and Time They grow in Gardens and Flower usually about May. Vertues and Use. The Root of the Male Peony fresh gathered hath been found by experience to cure the Falling-sickness but the surest way is besides hanging it about the Neck by which Children have been cured to take the Root of the Male Peony washed clean and stamped somwhat smal and lay it to infuse in Sack for twenty four Hours at the least after strain it and take first and last morning and evening a good draught for sundry daies together before and after a full Moon and this will also cure older persons if the Disease be not grown too old and past cure especially if there be a due and orderly preparation of the Body with Posset drink made of Betony c. The Root is also effectual for Women that are not sufficiently clensed after Childbirth and such as are troubled with the Mother for which likewise the black Seed beaten to Pouder and given in Wine is also available The black Seed also taken before bed time and in the morning is very effectual for such as in their sleep are troubled with the Diseas called Ephialtes or Incubus but we do commonly cal it the Night-Mare a diseas which Melancholly persons are subject unto It is also good against Melanchollick Dreams The Distilled water or Syrup made of the Flowers worketh the same effects that the Root and the Seed do although more weakly The Female is often used for the purposes aforesaid by reason the Male is so scarce a Plant that it is possessed by few and those great Lovers of Rarities in this kind It is an Herb of the Sun and under the Lyon Physitians say Male Peony Roots are best but Dr. Reason told me male Peony was best for men and
female Peony for women and he desires to be judged by his brother Dr. Experience The Roots are held to be of most Vertue then the Seeds next the Flowers and last of all the Leavs Pepperwort or Dittander Description OUr common Pepper-wort sendeth forth somwhat long and broad Leavs of a light blewish green colour finely dented about the edges and pointed at the ends standing upon round hard Stalks three or four foot high spreading many Branches on all sides and having many smal white Flowers at the tops of them after which follow small Seed in small Heads The Root is slender running much under ground and shooting up again in many place and both Leavs and Root are very hot and sharp of tast like Pepper for which caus it took the name Place It groweth Naturally in many places of this Land as at Clare in Essex neer also unto Exceter in Devonshire upon Rochester common in Kent in Lancashire and divers other places but is usually kept in Gardens Time It Flowreth in the end of June and in July Vertues and Use Pliny and Paulus AEgineta say that Pepperwort is very effectual for the Sciatica or any other Gout or pain in the Joynts or any other inveterate grief the Leavs hereof to be bruised and mixed with old Hogs grease and applied to the place and to continue thereon four hours in Men and two hours in women the place being afterwards bathed with Wine and Oyl mixed together and then wrapped with Wool or Skins after they have sweat a little It also amendeth the Deformities or discolourings of the Skin and helpeth to take away Marks Scars and Scabs or the foul marks of burning with fire or iron The Juyce hereof is in some places used to be given in Ale to drink to women with child to procure them a speedy delivery in Travail Here 's another Martial Herb for you make much of it Perwinkle Description THe common sort hereof hath many Branches trayling or running upon the ground shooting out smal Fibres at the Joynts as it runneth taking thereby hold in the ground and Rooteth in divers places At the Joynts of these Branches stand two small dark green shining Leavs somwhat like Bay Leavs but smaller and with them come forth also the Flowers one at a Joynt standing upon a tender Footstalk being somwhat long and hollow parted at the brims somtimes into four somtimes five Leavs the most ordinary sort are of a pale blue colour some are pure white and some of a dark reddish Purple colour The Root is little bigger than a Rush bushing in the ground and creeping with his Branches far about whereby it quickly possesseth a great compass and is therfore most usually planted under Hedges where it may have room to run Place Those with the pale blue and those with the white Flowers grow in Woods and Orchards by the Hedg sides in diverse places of this Land But those with the Purple Flowers in Gardens only Time They Flower in March and April Vertues and Use. The Perwincle is a great binder staying bleeding both at Mouth and Nose if some of the Leavs be chewed The French use it to stay Womens Courses Dioscorides Galen and AEgineta commend it against the Lask and Fluxes of the Belly to be drunk in Wine Venus owns this Herb and saith that the Leavs eaten by man and wife together causeth love between them St. Peters-wort Name IF Superstition had not been the Father of Tradition as well as Ignorance the Mother of Devotion this Herb as well as St. Johns wort had found some other name to be known by but we may say of our Fore-fathers as St. Paul of the Athenians I perceive that in many things you are too Superstitious Yet seing it is come to that pass that Custom having gotten possession pleads Prescription for the name I shall let it pass and come to the Description of the Herb which take as followeth Description It riseth up with square upright Stalks for the most part somwhat greater and higher than St. Johns wort and good reason too St. Peter being the greater Apostle ask the Pope else for though God would have the Saints equal the Pope is of another Opinion but brown in the same mannor having two Leavs at every Joynt somwhat like but larger than St. Johns wort and a little rounder pointed with few or no Holes to be seen therein and having somtimes some smaller Leavs rising from the Bosom of the greater and somtimes a little hairy also At the tops of the Stalks stand many Starlike Flowers with yellow threds in the middle very like those of St. Johns wort insomuch that this is hardly discerned from it but only by the largeness of height the Seed being also alike in both The Root abideth long sending forth new shoots every yeer Place It groweth in many Groves and small low Woods in divers places of this Land as in Kent Huntington Cambridg and Nothampton shires as also neer water Courses in other places Time It Flowreth in June and July and the Seed is ripe in August Vertues and Use. It is of the same property with St. Johns wort but somwhat weak and therefore more seldom used Two drams of the Seed taken at a time in Honeyed water purgeth Chollerick Humors as saith Dioscorides Pliny and Galen and thereby helpeth those that are troubled with the Sciatica The Leavs are used as St. Johns wort to help those places of the Body that have been burnt with Fire There is not a straw to chuse between this and St. Johns wort only St. Peter must have it lest he should lack Pot-herbs Pimpernel Discription COmmon Pimpernel hath diverse weak square Stalks lying on the ground beset all along with two smal and almost round Leavs at every Joynt one against another very like Chickweed but hath no Footstalks for the Leavs do as it were compass the Stalk The Flowers stand singly each by themselvs at them and the Stalks consisting of five round small pointed Leavs of a fine pale red colour tending to an Orange with so many threds in the middle in whose places succeed smooth round Heads wherein is contained smal Seed The Root is smal and fibrous perishing every yeer Place It groweth every where almost as well in the Meadows and Cornfields as by the Way-sides and in Gardens arising of it self Time It Flowreth from May unto August and the Seed ripeneth in the mean time and falleth Vertues and Use. This is of a clensing and attractive quality whereby it draweth forth Thorns or Splinters or other such like things gotten into the Flesh and put up into the Nostrils purgeth the Head and Galen saith also they have a drying faculty whereby they are good to soder the lips of Wounds and to clens foul Ulcers The distilled Water or Juyce is much esteemed by French Dames to clense the Skin from any roughness deformity or discolouring thereof Being boyled in Wine and given to drink it
and upon the Lungs causing a continual Cough the Fore-runner of a Consumption It helpeth also Hoarsness of the Throat and when one hath lost their voice which the Oyl of the Seed doth likewise The black Seed boyled in Wine and drunk is said also to stay the Flux of the Belly and Womens Courses The empty thels of the Poppy Heads are usually boyled in water and given to procure rest and sleep so do the Leavs in the same manner as also if the Head and Temples be bathed with the Decoction warm or with the Oyl of Poppies the green Leaves or Heads bruised and applied with a little Vinegar or made into a Pultis with Barley Meal or Hogs Greas it cooleth and tempereth al Inflamations as also the Diseas called St. Anthonies Fire It is generally used in Treacle and Methridate and in all other Medicines that are made to procure rest and sleep and to eas pains in the Head as well as in other parts It is also used to cool Inflamations Agues or Phrensies and to stay Defluxions which caus a Cough or Consumption and also other Fluxes of the Belly or Womens Courses It is also put into hollow Teeth to eas the pain and hath been found by experience to eas the pain of the Gout The Wild Poppy or Corn Rose as Mathiolus saith is good to prevent the Falling-sickness The Syrup made with the Flowers is with good effect given to those that have the Pluresie and the dried Flowers also either boyled in water or made into Pouder and drunk either in the Distilled Water of them or in some other Drink worketh the like effect The Distilled Water of the Flowers is held to be of much good use against Surfets being drunk evening and morning It is also more cooling than any of the other Poppies and therefore cannot but be as effectual in hot Agues Phrensies and other Inflamations either inward or outward the Syrup or Water to be used therein or the green Leavs used outwardly either in an Oyntment as it is in Populeon a cooling Oyntment or any other wales applied Galen saith the Seed is dangerous to be used inwardly The Herb is Lunar and of the Juyce of it is made Opium only for lucre of Money they cheat you and tell you 't is a kind of Tear or some such like thing that drops from Poppies when they weep and that is some where beyond the Sea I know not where beyond the Moon Purslane THe Garden Purslane being used as a Sallet Herb is so well known that it needeth no Description I shal therefore only speak of its Vertues as followeth Vertues and use It is good to cool any heat in the Liver Blood Reins and Stomach and in hot Agues nothing better It stayeth hot and Chollerick Fluxes of the Belly Womens Courses the Whites and Gonorrhea or running of the Reins the Distillations from the Head and pains therein proceeding of heat want of sleep or the Phrensie The Seed is more effectual than the Herb and is of singular good use to cool the heat and sharpness of Urine and the outragious Lust of the Body Venerious Dreams and the like insomuch that the overfrequent use hereof exinguisheth the Heat and Vertue of Natural Procreation The Seed bruised and boyled in Wine and given to Children expelleth the Worms The Juyce of the Herb is held as effectual to all the purposes aforesaid as also to stay Vomitings and taken with some Sugar or Honey helpeth an old and dry Cough shortness of Breath and the Phtisick and stayeth immoderate Thirst. The Distilled water of the Herb is used by many as the more pleasing with a little Sugar to work the same effects The Juyce also is singular good in the Inflamations and Ulcers of the secret parts in man or woman as â—â— of the Bowels and Hemorrhoids â—hen they are Ulcerous or Excoriations in them The Herb bruised and applied to the Forehead and Temples allayeth excessive heat therein hindring rest and sleep and applied to the Eyes taketh away the redness and Inflamation in them and those other parts where Pushes Wheals Pimples St. Anthonies Fire and the like break forth especially if a little Vinegar be put to it And being laid to the Neck with as much of Galls and Linseed together taketh away the pains therein and the Crick in the Neck The Juyce is used with Oyl of Roses for the said causes or for Blastings by Lightning and Burnings by Gun-Pouder or for Womens sore Breastss and to allay the heat in all other Sores or Hurts applied also to the Navels of Children that stick forth it helpeth them It is also good for sore Mouths and Gums that are swollen to fasten loos Teeth Camerarius saith That the distilled water used by some took away the pain of their Teeth when all other Remedies failed and that the thickned Juyce made in Pills with the Pouder of Gum Tragacanth and Arabick being taken prevaileth much to help those that make a bloody water Applied to the Gout it easeth pains thereof and helpeth the hardness of Sinews if it come not of the Cramp or a cold caus 'T is an Herb of the Moon See Lettice Primroses THese are so well known that they need no Description Of the Leavs of Primroses is made as fine a Salve to heal green Wounds as any is that I know you shall be taught to make Salves of any Herb at the latter end of the Book make this as you are taught there and do not you that have any Ingenuity in you see your poor Neighbors go with wounded Limbs when a Halfpenny cost will heal them Privet Description OUr common Privet is carried up with many slender Branches to a reasonable height and breadth to cover Arbours Bowrs and Banquetting Houses and brought wrought and cut into many forms of Men Horses Birds c. which though at first supported groweth afterwards strong of it self It beareth long and narrow green Leavs by couples and sweet smelling white Flowers in tufts at the ends of the Branches which turn into smal black Berries that have a Purplish Juyce within them and some Seeds that are flat on the one side with a hole or dent therein Place It groweth in this Land in divers Woods Time Our Privet Flowreth in June and July The Berries are ripe in August and September Vertues and Use. It is little used in Physick with us in these times more than in Lotions to wash Sores and Sore Mouths and to cool Inflamations and dry up Fluxes Yet Mathiolus saith it serveth to all the uses for which Ciprus or the East Privet is appointed by Dioscorides and Galen He further saith That the Oyl that is made of the Flowers of Privet infused therin and set in the Sun is singular good for the Inflamations of Wounds and for the Headach coming of an hot caus There is a sweet water also distilled from the Flowers that is good for all those Diseases
Vertues and Use. The Juyce of Hors-Radish given in drink is held to be very effectual for the Scurvy It killeth the Worms in Children being drunk and also laid upon the Belly The Root bruised and laid to the place grieved with the Sciatica Joynt-ach or the hard Swellings of the Liver and Spleen doth wonderfully help them all The Distilled water of the Herb and Roots is more familiar to be taken with a little Sugar for all the purposes aforesaid Garden Radishes are in wantonness by the Gentry eaten as Sallet but they breed but scurvy Humors in the Stomach and corrupt the Blood and then send for a Physitian as fast as you can this is one caus makes the owners of such nice Pallars so unhealthful yet for such as are troubled with the Gravel Stone or stoppage of Urine they are good Physick if the Body be strong that takes them you may make the Juyce of the Roots into a Syrup if you pleas for that use they purge by Urine exceedingly I Know not what Planet they are under I think none of all the Seven will own them Ragwort Description THe greater common Ragwort hath many large and long dark green Leavs lying on the ground very much rent and torn on the sides into many pieces from among which rise up somtimes but one and somtimes two or three square or crested blackish or brownish Stalks three or four foot high somtimes branched bearing diverse such like Leavs upon them at several distances unto the tops where it brancheth forth into many Stalks bearing yellow Flowers consisting of diverse Leaves set as a Pale or Border with a dark yellow thrum in the middle which do abide a great while but at last are turned into Down and with the smal blackish gray Seed are carried away with the wind The Root is made of many Fibres whereby it is firmly fastned into to the ground and abideth many yeers There is another sort hereof different from the former only in this That it riseth not so â—igh the Leavs are not so finely jagged nor of so dark a green colour but rather somwhat whitish soft and woolly and the Flowers usually paler Place They grow both of them wild in Pastures and untilled grounds in many places and oftentimes both of them in one Field Time They Flower in June and July and the Seed is ripe in August Vertues and Use. Ragwort Clenseth Digesteth and Discusseth The Decoction of the Herb to wash the Mouth or Throat that have Ulcers or Sores therein and for Swellings hardness or Impostumations for it throughly clenseth and healeth them as also the Quinsie and the Kings Evil It helpeth to stay Catarrrhes thin Rhewms Defluxions from the Head into the Eyes Nose or Lungs The Juyce is found by experience to be singular good to heal green Wounds and to clense and heal all old and filthy Ulcers in the Privities and in other parts of the Body as also inward Wounds and Ulcers and stayeth the Malignity of fretting or running Cankers and hollow Fistulaes not suffering them to spread further It is also much commended to help Aches and pains either in the Fleshy parts or in the Nervs and Sinews as also the Sciatica or pain of the Hips or Huckle-Bone to bath the places with the Decoction of the Herb or to anoint them with an Oyntment made of the Herb bruised and boyled in old Hogs Suet with some Mastich and Olibanum in Pouder added unto it after it is strained forth In Sussex we call it Ragweed Rattle-grass OF this there are two kinds which I shall speak of Viz. The Red and yellow Description The common red Rattle hath sundry reddish hollow Stalks and somtimes green risâ—ng from the Root lying for the most part on the ground yet some growing more upright with many smal reddish or greenish Leavs set on both sides of a middle Rib finely dented about the edges The Flowers stand at the tops of the Stalks and Branches of a fine purplish red colour like smal gaping hoods after which come flat blackish Seed in small Husks which lying loos therein will Rattle with shaking The Root consists of two or three small whitish strings with some fibres thereat The common Yellow Rattle hath seldom above one round green Stalk rising from the Root about half a yard or two foot high and but few Branches theron having two long and somwhat broad Leavs set at a Joynt deeply cut in on the edges resembling the Comb of e Cock broadest next to the Stalk and smaller to the end The Flowers grow at the tops of the Stalks with some shorter Leavs with them hooded after the same manner that the others are but of a fair yellow colour in most or in some paler and in some more white The Seed is contained in large Husks and being ripe will rattle or make a nois with lying loose in them The Root is small and slender perishing every yeer Place They grow in our Meadows and Woods generally through this Land Time They are in Flower from Midsummer until August be past somtimes Vertues and use The Red Rattle is accounted profitable to heal up Fistulaes and hollow Ulcers and to stay the Flux of Humors to them as also the abundance of Womens Courses or any other Flux of Blood being boyled in red Wine and drunk The Yellow Rattle or Cocks Comb is held to Be good for those that are troubled with a Cough or with Dimness of Sight if the Herb being boyled with Beans and some Honey put thereto be drunk or dropped into the Eyes The whol Seed being put into the Eyes draweth forth any skin Dimness or Film from the sight without trouble or pain Rest-Harrow or Cammoak Description THe common Rest-Harrow riseth up with divers rough woody twigs half a yard or a yard high set at the Joynes without order with little roundish Leavs somtimes more than two or three at a place of a dark green colour without thorns while they are yong but afterwards armed in sundry places with short and sharp Thorns The Flowers come forth at the tops of the twigs and Branches whereof it is ful fashioned like Peas or Broom Blossoms but lesser flatter and somwhat closer of a faint purplish colour after which come smal Pods containing smal flat and round Seed The Root is blackish on the outside and whitish within very tough and hard to break when it is fresh and green and as hard as an Horn when it is dried thrusting down deep into the ground and spreading likewise every piece being apt to grow again if it be left in the ground Place It groweth in many places of this Land as well in the Arable as wast ground Time It Flowreth about the beginning or middle of July and the Seed is ripe in August Vertues and use It is singular good to provoke Urine when it is stopped and to break and drive forth the Stone which the Pouder of the
another sort called Dutch Scurvy-Grass which is most known and frequent in Gardens which hath diverse fresh green and almost round Leaves rising from the Root nothing so thick as the former yet in some rich ground very large even twice so big as others not dented about the edges nor hollow in the middle every one standing upon a long Footstalk from among these rise up divers long slender weak Stalks higher than the former and with more white Flowers at the tops of them which turn into smaller pods and smaller brownish Seed than the former The Root is white smal and threddy The tast of this is nothing Salt ar all but hath an hot Aromatical spicy tast Time They Flower in April or May and give their Seed ripe quickly after Vertues and Use. The English Scurvey-grass is more used for the Salt tast it beareth w th doth somwhat open and clense but the Dutch Scurvey-grass is of better effect and chiefly used if it may be had by those that have the Scurvey especially to purge and clense the Blood the Liver and the Spleen for all which Diseases it is of singular good effect by taking the Juyce in the Spring every morning fasting in a cup of Drink The Decoction is good for the same purpose and the Herb tunned up in new Drink either by it self or with other things for it openeth Obstructions evacuateth cold clammy and Flegmatick Humors both from the Liver and the Spleen wasting and consuming both the swelling and hardness thereof and thereby bringing to the Body a more lively colour The Juyce also helpeth all foul Ulcers and Sores in the Mouth if it be often gargled therewith and used outwardly clenseth the Skin from spots marks or Scars that happen therein Self-heal Description THe common Self-heal is a small low creeping Herb having many small roundish pointed Leavs somwhat like the Leaves of Wild Mints of a dark green colour without any dents on the edges from among which rise diverse square hairy Stalks scarce a foot high which spread somtime into Branches with diverse such smal Leaves set thereon up to the tops where stand brown spiked Heads of many smal brownish Leaves like scales and Flowers set together almost like the Head of Cassidony which Flowers are gaping and of a blewish purple or more pale blew in some places sweet but not so in others The Root consists of many strings or fibres downward and spreadeth strings also whereby it encreaseth The smal stalks with the Leaves creeping upon the ground shoot forth sibres taking hold of the ground wherby it is made a great ruft in short time Place It is found in Woods and Fields every where Time It Flowreth in May and somtimes in April Vertues and Use. As Self-heal is like Bugle in form so also in the Qualities and Vertues serving for al the purposes whereto Bugle is applied with good success either inwardly or outwardly for inward Wounds or Ulcers wheresoever within the Body for Bruises and Falls and such like hurts if it be accompanied with Bugle Sanicle and other the like Wound Herbs it will be the more effectual and to wash or inject into Ulcers in the parts outwardly where there is cause to repress the heat and sharpness of Humors flowing to any sore Ulcer Inflamation Swelling or the like or to stay the Flux of blood in any Wound or Part this is used with good success as also to clense the foulness of Sores and cause them more speedily to be healed It is an especial Remedy for all green Wounds to soder the lips of them and to keep the place from any further inconveniences The Juyce hereof used with Oyl of Roses to anoint the Temples and Forehead is very effectual to remove the Headach and the same mixed with Honey of Roses clenseth and healeth all Ulcers in the Mouth and Throat and those also in the secret parts And the Proverb of the Germans French and others is verified in this That he needeth neither Physitian nor Chyrurgion that hath Self-heal and Sanicle to help himself Here is another Herb of Venus Self-heal whereby when you hurt you may heal your self 't is indeed a special Herb for inward and outward Wounds take it inwardly in Syrups for inward Wounds outwardly in Unguents and Plaisters for outward The Service-tree THis is so well know in the places where it grows that it needeth no Description Time It Flowreth before the end of May and the Fruit is ripe in October Vertues and use Services when they are mellow are fit to be taken to stay Fluxes Scowring and Castings yet less than Medlars if they be dried before they be mellow and kept all the yeer they may be used in Decoctions for the said purpose either to drink or to bath the parts requiring it and is profitably used in that manner to stay the bleeding of Wounds and at the Mouth or Nose to be applied to the Forehead and Nape of the Neck Smallage THis also is very well known and therefore I shall not trouble the Reader with any Description thereof Place It groweth naturally in wet and Marsh grounds but if it be sown in Gardens it there prospereth very well Time It abideth green all the Winter and Seedeth in August Vertues and Use. Smallage is hotter dryer and much more Medicinable than Parsley for it much more openeth Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen rarifieth thick Flegm and clenseth it and the Blood withal It provoketh Urine and Womens Courses and is singular good against the yellow Jaundice It is very effectual against Tertian and Quartan Agues if the Juyce thereof be taken but especially made into a Syrup The Juyce also put to Honey of Râ—â—es and Barley Water is very good to Gangle the Mouth and Throat of those that have Sores and Ulcers in them and will quickly heal them The same Lotion also clenseth and healeth all other foul Ulcers and Cankers elswhere if they be washed therewith The Seed is especially used to break and expel wind to kill Worms and to help a stinking Breath The Root is effectual to all the purposes aforesaid and is held to be stronger in operation than the Herb but especially to open Obstructions and to rid away an Ague if the Juyce thereof be taken in Wine or the Decoction thereof in Wine be used Sopewort or Bruisewort Description THe Root creepeth under ground far and neer with many Joynts therein of a brown colour on the outside and yellowish within shooting forth in diverse places many weak round Stalks full of Joynts set with two Leaves apiece at every one of them on the contrary side which are ribbed somwhat like unto Plantane and fashioned like the common field white Campion Leaves seldom having any Branches from the sides of the Stalks but set with diverse Flowers at the top standing in long Husks like the wild Campions made of five Leavs apiece round at the ends and a
the times change is the way to live secure and that Flatterers and Weather-cocks know wel enough The Woolley or Cotton Thistle Description THis hath many large Leaves lying on the ground somwhat cut in and as it were crumpled on the edges of a green colour on the upper side but covered over with long hairy Wool or Cottony Down set with most sharp and cruel pricks from the middle of whose heads of Flowers come forth many purplish crimson threds and somtimes white although but seldom The Seed that followeth in these white downy heads is somwhat large long and round resembling the Seed of Ladies Thistle but paler The Root is great and thick spreading much yet usually dieth after Seed time Place It groweth on diverse Ditch Banks and in the Cornfields and High-wayes generally throughout the Land and is often found growing in Gardens Time It Flowreth and beareth Seed about the end of Summer when other Thistles do Flower and Seed Vertues and Use. Dioscorides and Pliny write That the Leavs and Roots hereof taken in drink helpeth those that have a Crick in their Neck that they cannot turn it unless they turn their whol Body Galen saith That the Root and Leaves hereof are good for such persons that have their Bodies drawn together by some Spasm or Convulsion or other Infirmities as the Rickets ' or as the Colledg of Physitians would have it the Rachites about which name they have quarrel'd sufficiently in Children being a Disease that hindereth their growth by binding their Nerves Ligaments and whol structure of their Body The Fullers Thistle or Teasel THis is so well known that it needeth no Description being used by the Cloath-workers The wild Teasel is in all things like the former but that the prickles are smal soft and upright not hooked or stiff and the Flowers of this are of fine blush or pale Carnation colour but of the Manured kind whitish Place The first groweth being sown in Gardens or Fields for the use of Cloathworkers The other neer Ditches and Cills of water in many places of this Land Time They Flower in July and are ripe in the end of August Vertues and Use. Dioscorides saith That the Root bruised and boyled in Wine until it be thick and kept in a brazen Vessel or Pot and after spread as a Salve and applied to the Fundament doth heal the clefts thereof as also Cankers and Fistulaes therein as also taketh away Warts and Wers The Juyce of the Leaves dropped into the Ears killeth Worms in them The distilled water of the Leaves dropped into the Eyes taketh away redness and mists in them that hinder the sight and is often used by women to preserve their beauty and to take away redness and Inflamations and all other heat or discolourings Treacle Mustard Description THis riseth up with a hard round stalke about a foot high parted into some branches having divers soft green leaves somewhat long and narrow set thereon waved but not cut in on the edges broadest towards the ends end somewhat round pointed The flowers are white that grow at the tops of the branches spike fashion one above another after which come large round pouches parted in the middle with a furrow having one blackish brown seed in either side somewhat sharp in tast and smelling of Garlick especially in the fields where it is naturall but not so much in gardens The roots are small and threddy perishing every yeare And here give me leave to adde Methridate Mustard although it may seem more properly by the name â—â— belong to the Alphabet M. Methridate Mustard THis groweth higher then the former spreading more and longer branches whose leaves are smaller and narrower sometimes unevenly dented about the edges the Flowers are smal and white growing on long branches with much smaller and rounder seed vessels after them and parted in the same manner having smaller browne seeds then the former and much sharper in taste The root perisheth after seed time but abideth the first winter after the springing Place They grow in sundry places of this Land as halfe a mile from Hatfield by the river side under a hedge as you go to Hatfield and in the street of Peckham on Surry side Time They flowre and seed from May to August Vertues and Use. These Mustards are said to purge the body both upwards and downwards and procureth Womens Courses so abundantly that it suffocateth the birth It breaketh inward Imposthumes being taken inwardly and used in Glisters helpeth the Sciatica the seed applied outwardly doth the same It is an especiall ingredient unto Methridate and Treacle being of it selfe an Antidote resisting poyson venome and putrefaction It is also availeable in many causes for which the common Mustard is used but somewhat weaker The Black-Thorne or Sloe-Bush THis is so well knowne that it needeth no description Place It groweth in every place and Countrey in the hedges and borders of fields Time It flowreth in Aprill and sometimes in March but ripeneth the fruit after all other plums whatsoever and is not fit to be eaten until the Autumne frost have mellowed it Vertues and Use. All the parts of the Sloe-Bush are binding cooling and drying and all effectuall to stay bleeding at the nose and mouth or any other place the Lask of the beily or stomach or the Bloody Flux the two much abounding of womens Courses and helpeth to ease the paines in the sides bowels and guts that come by over-much scowring to drink the decoction of the barke of the roots or more usually the decoction of the Berries either fresh or dried The Conserve is also of very much use and most familiarly taken for the purposes aforesaid But the distilled water of the Flowers first steeped in Sack for a night and drawne there-from by the heat of Balneum Angliceabaths is a most certaineremedy tried and approved to ease all manner of gnawings in the stomach the sides and bowels or any griping pains in any of them to drink a smal quantity when the extremety of pain is upon them The Leaves also are good to make Lotions to gargle and wash the Mouth and Throat wherein are Swellings Sores or Kernels and to stay the Defluxions of Rhewm to the Eyes or other parts as also to cool the heat and Inflamations in them and to ease hot pains of the Head to bath the Forehead and Temples therewith The simple distilled water of the Flowers is very effectual for the said purposes and is the condensate Juyce of the Sloes The distilled water of the green Berries is used also for the said effects Thoroughwax Description THe common Throughwax sendeth forth one straight round Stalk and somtimes more two foot high and better whose lower Leaves being of a blewish green colour are smaller and narrower than those up higher and stand close thereto not compassing it but as they grow higher they do more and more encompass the Stalk until it wholly as it were pass through them branching
away there followeth small brownish white Seed that is easily carried away with the wind The Root smalleth more strong than either Leaf or Flower and is of more use in Medicine Place It is generally kept with us in our Gardens Time It Flowreth in June and July and continueth Flowring until the Frosts pull it down Vertues and Use. Dioscorides saith That the Garden Valcrian hath a warming Faculty and that being dryed and given to drink it provoketh Urine and helpeth the Strangury The Decoction therof taken doth the like also and taketh away pains of the sides provoketh Womens Courses and is used in Antidotes Pliny saith That the Pouder of the Root given in drink or the Decoction thereof taken helpeth all stoppings and stranglings in any part of the Body whether they proceed of pains in the Chest or sides and taketh them away The Root of Valerianboyled with Liquoris Raisons and Annis Seed is singular good for those that are short winded and for those that are troubled with the Cough and helpeth to open the passages and to expectorate Flegm easily It is given to those that are bitten or stung by any Venemous Creature being boyled in Wine It is of especial Vertue against the Plague the Decoction thereof being drunk and the Root being used to smell unto It helpeth also to expel the wind in the Belly The green Herb with the Root taken fresh being bruised and applied to the Head taketh away the pains and prickings therein staieth Rhewms and thin Distillations and being boyled in white Wine and the drop thereof put into the eye taketh away the dimness of the sight or any Pin or Web therein It is of excellent property to heal any inward Sores or Wounds as also for outward Hurts or Wounds and draweth any Splinter or Thorn out of the Flesh. Vervain Description THe common Vervain hath somwhat long and broad Leaves next the ground deeply gash'd about the edges and some only deeply dented or cut all alike of a blackish green colour on the upper side and somwhat gray underneath The Stalk is square branched into several parts rising about two foot high especially if you reckon the long spike of Flowers at the tops of them which are set on all sides one above another and somtimes two or three together being small and gaping of a Purplish blew colour and white intermixt after which come small round Seed in small and somwhat long Heads The Root is small and long but of no use Place It groweth generally throughout this Land in diverse places by the Hedges and way sides and other wast grounds Time It Flowreth about July and the Seed is ripe soon after Vertues and Use. Vervain is hot and dry bitter opening Obstructions clensing and healing It helpeth the yellow Jaundice the Dropsie and the Gout the defects of the Reins and Lungs and generally all inward pains and torments of the Body the Leaves being boyled and drunk The same is held to be good against the bitings of Serpents and other Venemous Beasts and against the Plague and both Tertian and Quartane Agues killeth and expelleth Worms in the Belly and causeth a good colour in the Face and Body strengthneth as well as correcteth the Diseases of the Liver and Spleen is very effectual in all Diseases of the Stomach and Lungs as Coughs shortness of Breath and Wheesings and is singular good against the Dropsie to be drunk with some Peony Seeds bruised and put thereto and is no less prevalent for the defects of the Reins and Bladder to clense them of those Humors that ingender the Stone and helpeth to break the Stone and to expel Gravel It consolidateth and healeth also all Wounds both inward and outward and stayeth bleedings and used with some Honey healeth all old Ulcers and Fistulaes in the Legs or other parts of the Body as also those Ulcers that happen in the Mouth or used with old Hogs grease it helpeth the Swellings and pains of the secret parts in man or Woman as also for the Piles and Hemorrhoidsâ— Applied with some Oyl of Roses and Vinegar unto the Forehead and Temples it easeth the inveterate pains and ach of the Head and is good for those that are Frenetick The Leaves bruised or the Juyce of them mixed with some Vinegar doth wonderfully clense the Skin and taketh away Morphew Freckles Pustulaes and other such like Inflamations and deformities of the Skin in any part of the Body The distilled water of the Herb when it is in his full strength dropped into the Eyes clenseth them from Films Clouds or mists that darken the sight and wonderfully strengtheneth the Optick Nerves The said Water is very powerful in all the Diseases aforesaid either inward or outward whether they be old corroding Sores or green Wounds This also is an Herb of Venus and an excellent Herb for the Womb to strengthen it and remedy all the cold griefs of it as Plantane doth the hot the Herb bruised and hung about the Neck helps the Headach The Vine THe Leaves of the English Vine I do not intend to send you to the Canaries for a Medicine being boyled make a good Lotion for sore Mouths being boyled with Barley Meal into a Pultis it cools Inflamations of Wounds the droppings of the Vine when 't is cut in the Spring which Country people call Tears being boyled into a Syrup with Sugar and taken inwardly is excellent to stay Womens longings after every thing they see which is a Disease many Women with Child are subject too the Decoction of Vine Leaves in white Wine doth the like also the Tears of of the Vine drunk two or three spoonfuls at a time breaks the Stone in the Bladder This is a very good Remedy and it is discreetly done to kill a Vine to cure a Man but the Salt of the Leaves is held to be better The Ashes of the burnt Branches will make Teeth that are as black as a coal to be as white as snow if you do but every morning rub them with it Violets THese both Tame and Wild are so well known that they need no Description Time They Flower until the end of July but are best in March and the beginning of April Vertues and Use. All the Violets are cold and moist while they are fresh and green and are used to cool any heat or distemperature of the Body either inwardly or outwardly as Inflamations in the Eyes in the Matrix or Fundament in Impostumes also and hot Swellings to drink the Decoction of the Leaves or Flowers made with Water or Wine or to apply them Pultiâ— wise to the grieved place it likewise easeth pains in the Head caused through want of sleep or in any other place arising of heat being applied in the same manner or with Oyl of Roses A dram weight of the dried Leaves of the Flowers of Violets but the Leaves more strongly
doth purge the Body of Chollerick Humors and asswageth the heat being taken in a draught of Wine or any other Drink The Pouder of the purple Leaves of the Flowers only pick'd and dried and drunk in Water is said to help the Quinsie and the Falling-sickness in Children especially in the beginning of the Disease The Flowers of the White Violets ripeneth and dissolveth Swellings The Herb or Flowers while they are fresh or the Flowers when they are dry are effectual in the Plurisie and all Diseases of Lungs to lenesie the sharpness of hot Rhewms and the Hoarsness of the Throat the heat also and sharpness of Urine and all pains of the Back or Reins and the Bladder It is good also for the Liver and the Jaundice and in al hot Agues to cool the Heat and quench the Thirst But the Syrup of Violets is of most use and of better effect being taken in some convenient Liquor and if a little of the Juyce or Syrup of Lemmons be put to it or a few drops of the Oyl of Vitriol it is made thereby the more powerful to cool the heat and to quench the Thirst and giveth to the drink a Clarret Wine colour and a fine tart â—ellish pleasing the tast Violets taken or made up with Honey doth more clense than cool and with Sugar contrary-wise The dryed Flowers of Violets are accounted among the Cordial Drinks Pouders and other Medicines especially where cooling Cordials are necessary The green Leaves are used with other Herbs to make Plaisters and Pultisces for Inflamations and Swellings and to ease pains wheresoever arising of heat and for the Piles also being fried with Yolks of Eggs and applied thereto Pansies or Heartsease are like unto Violets in all their operations but somwhat hotter and dryer yet very temperate and by viscuous Juyce therein doth somwhat mollifie yet less than Mallows It is conducing in like manner as Violets to the hot Diseases of the Chest and Lungs for Agues Convulsions and Falling-sickness in Children The Decoction helpeth Itch and Scabs being bathed therwith It is said also to soder green Wounds and to help old Sores the Juyce or distilled Water thereof being drunk Vipers Buglofs Description THis hath many long rough Leaves lying on the ground from among which rise up diverse hard round Stalks very rough as if they were thick set w th prickles or hairs wherin are set such like long rough hairy or prickly sad green Leavs somwhat narrow the middle Rib for the most part being white The Flowers stand at the tops of the Stalks branched forth into many long spiked Leaves of Flowers bowing or turning like the Turnsole all of them opening for the most part on the one side which are long and hollow turning up the Brims a little of a Purplish Violet colour in them that are fully blown but more reddish while they are in the Bud as also upon their decay and withering but in some places of a paler purple colour with a long pointel in the middle feathered or parted at the top After the Flowers are fallen the Seeds growing to be ripe are blackish cornered and pointed somwhat like unto the Head of a Viper The Root is somwhat great and blackish and woolly when it groweth toward Seed time and perisheth in the Winter There is another sort little differing from the former only in that it beareth white Flowers Place The first groweth wild almost every where That with white Flowers about the Castle Walls of Lewes in Sussex Time They Flower in Summer and their Seed is ripe quickly after Vertues and Use. It is an especial Remedy against the biting of the Viper and of all other Venemous Beasts or Serpents as also against poyson and poysonful Heâ—â—s Dioscorides and others say That whosoever shall take of the Herb or Root before they be bitten shall not be hurt by the poyson of any Serpent The Roots or Seeds are thought to be most effectual to comfort the Heart and expel Sadness or cause less Melancholly it tempers the Blood and allayeth the hot Fits of Agues The Seed drunk in Wine procureth abundance of Milk in Womens Brests The same also being taken caseth the pains in the Loyns Back and Kidneys The distilled Water of the Herb when it is in Flower or his chiefest strength is excellent to be applied either inwardly or outwardly for all the Griefs aforesaid There is a Syrup made hereof very effectual for the comforting of the Heart and expelling Sadness and Melancholly VVall-Flowers or Winter Gilly-flowers THe Garden kinds are so wel known that they need no Description Description The common single Wall-Flowers which grow wild abroad hath sundry smal long narrow and dark green Leaves set without order upon smal round whitish wooddy Stalks which bear at the tops diverse single yellow Flowers one above another every one having four Leaves apiece and of a very sweet scent after which come long Pods containing reddish Seed The Root is white hard and threddy Place It groweth upon old Church Walls and old Walls of many Houses and on the other stone Walls in diverse places The other sorts in Gardens only Time All the single kinds do Flower many times in the end of Autumn and if the Winter be mild all the Winter long but especially in the Months of February March and April and until the heat of the Spring do spend them But the double kinds continue not Flowring in that manner all the yeer along although they Flower very early somtimes and in some places very late Vertues and Use. Galen in his seventh Book of Simple Medicines saith That the yellow Wall-flowers worketh more powerfully than any of the other kinds and is therefore of more use in Physick It clenseth the Blood and freeth the Liver and Reins from Obstructions provoketh Womens Courses expelleth the Secondine and dead Child helpeth the hardness and pains of the Mother and of the Spleen also stayeth Inflamations and Swellings comforteth and strengthneth any weak part or out of Joynt helpeth to clense the Eyes from mistiness and Films on them and to clense foul and filthy Ulcers in the Mouth or any other part and is a singular Remedy for the Gout and all Aches and Pains in the Joynts and Sinews A Conserve made of the Flowers is used for a Remedy both for the Apoplexie and Palsey The VValnut-Tree THis is so well known that it needeth no Description Time It Blossometh early before the Leaves come forth and the Fruit is ripe in September Vertues and Use. The Bark of the Tree doth bind and dry very much and the Leaves are much of the same temperature but the Leaves when they are older are heating and drying the Second Degree and harder of digestion than when they are fresh which by reason of their sweetness are more pleasing and better digesting in the Stomach and taken with sweet Wine they move the Belly downwards but being old they grieve the
take to be no other but our English Adder and all other Venemous Creatures The Leaves of Wheat Meal applied with some Salt taketh away hardness of the Skin Wharts and hard Knots in the Flesh. Starch moistned with Rosewater and laid to the Cods taketh away their Itching Wafers put in Water and drunk stayeth the Lask and Bloody Flux and is profitably used both inward and outwardly for the Ruptures in Children Boyled in Water unto a thick Gelly and taken it stayeth spitting of Blood and boyled with Mints and Butter it helpeth the hoarsness of the Throat The VVillow-tree THese are so well known that they need no no Description I shall therefore only shew you the Vertues thereof Vertues and Use. Both the Leaves Bark and the Seed are used to stanch bleeding of Wounds and at Mouth and Nose spitting of Blood and all other Fluxes of Blood in man or woman and to stay Vomiting and provocation thereunto if the Decoction of them in Wine be drunk It helpeth also to stay thin hot sharp salt Distillations from the Head upon the Lungs causing a Consumption The Leaves bruised with some Peppâ—r and drunk in Wine much helpeth the wind Chollick The Leaves bruised and boyled in Wine and drunk staieth the heat of Lust in man or woman and quite extinguisheth it if it be long used The Seed is also of the same effect The Water that is gathered from the Willow when it Flowreth the Bark being slit and a fitting Vessel set to receive it is very good for redness and dimness of Sight for films that grow over the Eyes and stay the Rhewms that fall into them to provoke Urin being stopped if it be drunk and to cleer the Face and Skin from Spots and Discolourings Galenâ—aith â—aith The Flowers have an admirable faculty in drying up Humors beeing a Medicine without any sharpness or corrosion You may boyl them in white Wine and drink as much as you will so you drink not your self drunk The Bark work the same effects if used in the same manner and the Tree hath alwaies Bark upon it though not alwaies Flowers The Burnt ashes of the Bark being mixed with Vinegar taketh away Warts Corns and Superfluous Flesh being applied to the place The Decoction of the Leaves or Bark in Wine takes away Scurf or Dandrif by washing the place with it 'T is a fine cool Tree The Boughs of which are very convenient to be placed in the Chamber of one sick of a Feaver Woad Description IT hath diverse large Leaves long and somwhat broad withal like to those of the greater Plantaue but larger thicker of a greenish colour and somwhat blew withal From among which Leaves riseth up a lusty Stalk three or four foot high with diverse Leaves set thereon The higher the Stalk riseth the smaller are the Leaves at the top it spreadeth into diverse Branches at the ends of which appear pretty little yellow Flowers and after they pass away like other Flowers of the Field come Husks long and somwhat flat withal in form they resemble a Tongue in colour they are black and they hang bobbing downwards The Seed contained within these Husks if it be a little chewed gives an Azure colour The Root is white and long Place It is sowed in Fields for the benefit of it where those that sow it cut it three ' times a yeer Time It Flowreth in June but is long after before the Seed is ripe Vertues and Use. Some People affirm the Plant to be destructive to Bees which if it be I cannot help it They say it possesseth Bees with a Flux but that I can hardly beleeve unless Bees be contrary to all other Creatures I should rather think it possesseth them with the contrary Disease the Herb being exceeding drying and binding However if any Bees be diseased thereby the cure is to set Urine by them but set it in such a Vessel that they cannot drown themselves which may be remedied if you put pieces of Cork in it I told you before the Herb was drying and binding and so drying and binding that it is not fit to be given inwardly An Oyntment made thereof stancheth Bleeding A Plaister made thereof and applied to the Region of the Spleen and I pray you take notice that the Spleen lies on the left side takes away the hardness and pains thereof The Oyntment is excellent good in such Ulcers as abound with moisture and takes away the corroding and fretting Humors It cools Inflamations quencheth St. Anthonies fire and stayeth Defluxions of Blood to any part of the Body Woodbind or Honey-suckles THe Plant is so common that every one that hath Eyes knows them and he that hath none cannot reade a Description if I should write it Time They Flower in June and the Fruit is ripe in August Vertues and Use. Doctor Tradition that grand Introducer of Errors that Hater of Truth that Lover of Folly and that mortal Foe to Doctor Reason hath taught the common People to use the Leaves and Flowers of this Plant in Mouth Waters and by long continuance of time hath so grounded it in the Brains of the Vulgar that you cannot beat it out with a Beetle All Mouth Waters ought to be cooling and drying but Honeysuckles are clensing consuming and digesting and therefore no waies fit for Inflamations Thus Doctor Reason Again If you please we will leave Dr. Reason a while and come to Dr. Experience a learned Gentleman and his Brother Take a Leaf and chew it in your Mouth and you will quickly find it likelier to cause a sore Mouth or Throat than to cure it Well then if it be not good for this What is it good for 'T is good for somthing For God and Nature made nothing in vain It is an Herb of Jupiter and apropriated to the Lungs the Coelestial Crab claims Dominion over it neither is it a Foe to the Lyon If the Lungs be afflicted by Mercury this is your Cure It is fitting a Conserve made of the Flowers of it were kept in every Gentlewomans House I know no better cure for an Asthma than this Besides It takes away the evil of the Spleen provokes Urine procures speedy Delivery to Women in Travail helps Cramps Convulsions and Palseys and whatsoever griefs comes of cold or stopping If you please to make use of it in an Oyntment it will cleer your Skin of Morphew Freckles and Sun-burning or whatsoever else discolours it and then the Maids will love it I have done when I have told you what Authors say and cavelled a little with them They say the Flowers are of more effect than the Leaves and that 's true but they say The Seeds are of least effect of all But Dr. Reason told me That there was a Vital Spirit in every Seed to beget its like and Dr. Experiense told me That there was a greater heat in a Seed than there was in any other part of a