The Old English Herbals Part 6

In IIII. pound of sugar a pounde of roses.

"Oyle of roses is made thus. Some boyle roses in oyle and kepe it, some do fyll a gla.s.se with roses and oyle and they boyle it in a caudron full of water and this oyle is good.

Some stampe fresh roses with oyle and they put it in a vessel of gla.s.se and set it in the sune IIII. dais and this oyle is good.

"Rose water. Some do put rose water in a gla.s.s and they put roses with their dew therto and they make it to boile in water tha thei set it in the sune tyll it be readde and this water is beste."

Under the same flower we find this fragrant example of the widespread mediaeval belief in the efficacy of good smells:--

"Also drye roses put to ye nose to smell do coforte the braine and the harte and quencheth sprite."

The herbalists were never weary of teaching the value of sweet scents.[51] "If odours may worke satisfaction," wrote Gerard in his _Herball_, "they are so soveraigne in plants and so comfortable that no confection of the apothecaries can equall their excellent vertue."

One of the most delicious "scent" prescriptions in Askham is to be found under Violet--"For the that may not slepe for sickness seeth this herb in water and at euen let him soke well hys feete in the water to the ancles, wha he goeth to bed, bind of this herbe to his temples and he shall slepe wel by the grace of G.o.d."

The most curious recipe is that under "woodbinde." "Go to the roote of woodbinde and make a hole in the middes of the roote, than cover it well againe y{t} no ayre go out nor that no rayne go in, no water, nor earth nor the sune come not to much to it, let it stande so a night and a day, tha after that go to it and thou shalt fynde therein a certayne lycoure. Take out that lycoure with a spone and put it into a clean glas and do so every day as long as thou fyndest ought in the hole, and this must be done in the moneth of April or Maye, than anoynt the sore therwith against the fyre, tha wete a lynnen clothe in the same lycoure and lappe it about the sore and it shal be hole in shorte s.p.a.ce on warrantyse by the Grace of G.o.d."

Unlike the later _Grete Herball_, Askham gives some descriptions of the herbs themselves, notably in the case of alleluia (wood-sorrel), water crowfoot, and asterion.

"This herbe alleluia me call it Wodsour or Stubwort, this herbe hath thre leaves ye which be roud a litel departed aboue and it hath a whyte flour, but it hath no loge stalkes and it is Woodsoure and it is like thre leued gra.s.se. The vertue of this herbe is thus, if it be rosted in the ashes in red docke leaves or in red wort leaves it fretteth awai dead flesh of a wounde. This herbe groweth much in woodes."

Water crowfoot: "This herb that men call water crowfoot hath yelow floures, as hath crowfoot and of the same shap, but the leves are more departed as it were Rammes fete, and it hath a long stalke and out of that one stalke groweth many stalkes smal by ye sides. This herb groweth in watery places."

"Asterion or Lunary groweth among stoones and in high places, this herb shyneth by night and he bringeth forth purple floures hole and rounde as a knockebell or else lyke to foxgloves, the leves of this herbe be rounde and blew and they have the mark of the Moone in the myddes as it were thre leved gra.s.se, but the leaves therof be more and they be round as a peny. And the stalk of this herb is red and thyse herb semeth as it were musk and the joyce therof is yelow and this groweth in the new Moone without leve and euery day spryngeth a newe leaue to the ende of fyftene dayes and after fyftene dayes it looseth euery day a leaue as the Moone waneth and it springeth and waneth as doth the Moone and where that it groweth there groweth great quant.i.tie.

"The vertue of this herbe is thus--thei that eat of the beris or of the herbe in waning of the moone, wha he is in signo virginis if he have the falling euell he shal be hole thereof or if he beare thys about his neck he shal be holpen without doute. And it hath many more vertues than I can tell at this tyme."

One of the unidentified herbs is called "sene," and we are given the somewhat vague geographical information, "It groweth in the other syde the sea and moste aboute Babilon."

Another small book printed by William Copland must be mentioned, for, although it is not a herbal, it contains a great deal of curious herb lore not to be found elsewhere. This is _The boke of secretes of Albartus Magnus of the vertues of Herbes, Stones, and certaine beastes_. Who the author was is unknown, but he was certainly not Albert of Bollstadt (1193-1280), Bishop of Ratisbon, the scholastic philosopher to whom it was ascribed, probably in order to increase its sale. There is one philosophical remark which is not unworthy of the famous Bishop: "Every man despiseth ye thyng whereof he knoweth nothynge and that hath done no pleasure to him." But for the most part it deals with the popular beliefs concerning the mystical properties of herbs, stones and animals.

Of celandine the writer tells us: "This hearbe springeth in the time in ye which the swallowes and also ye Eagles maketh theyr nestes. If any man shal have this herbe with ye harte of a Molle (mole) he shall overcome all his enemies.... And if the before named hearbe be put upon the headde of a sycke man if he should dye he shal syng anone with a loud voyce, if not he shall weep."

"Perwynke when it is beate unto pouder with wormes of ye earth wrapped aboute it and with an herbe called houslyke it induceth love between man and wyfe if it bee used in their meales ... if the sayde confection be put in the fyre it shall be turned anone unto blue coloure."

Of the herb which, he tells us, "the men of Chaldea called roybra," he says: "He that holdeth this herbe in hys hade with an herbe called Mylfoyle or yarowe or noseblede is sure from all feare and fantasye or vysion. And yf it be put with the juyce of houselyke and the bearers hands be anoynted with it and the residue be put in water if he entre in ye water where fyshes be they wil gather together to hys handes ...

and if hys hande be drawe forth they will leape agayne to theyre owne places where they were before."

Of hound's tongue: "If ye shall have the aforenamed herbe under thy formost toe al the dogges shall kepe silence and shall not have power to bark. And if thou shalt put the aforesayde thinge in the necke of any dogge so y{t} he maye not touche it with his mouthe he shalbe turned always round about lyke a turning whele untill he fall unto the grounde as dead and this hath bene proved in our tyme."

Of centaury: "If it be joyned with the bloude of a female lapwing or black plover and be put with oyle in a lampe, all they that compa.s.se it aboute shal beleue themselves to be witches so that one shall beleve of an other that his head is in heaven and his fete in the earth. And if the aforesaid thynge be put in the fire whan the starres s.h.i.+ne it shall appeare y{t} the sterres runne one agaynste another and fyght."

Of vervain: "This herbe (as witches say) gathered, the sunne beyng in the signe of the Ram, and put with grayne or corne of pyonie of one yeare olde healeth them y{t} be sicke of ye falling sykenes."

Of powder of roses: "If the aforesayde poulder be put in a lampe and after be kindled all men shall appeare blacke as the deuell. And if the aforesaid poulder be mixed with oyle of the olyue tree and with quycke brymstone and the house anointed wyth it, the Sunne shyning, it shall appeare all inflamed."

[Ill.u.s.tration: WOODCUT FROM THE t.i.tLE-PAGE OF THE "GRETE HERBALL"

(1526)]

Of verbena: "Infants bearing it shalbe very apte to learne and louing learnynge and they shalbe glad and joyous."

It is the only book on the virtues of herbs in which I have found a recipe to revive drowning flies and bees! This is to be done by placing them in warm ashes of pennyroyal, and then "they shall recover their lyfe after a little tyme as by ye s.p.a.ce of one houre." The book ends with a curious philosophical dissertation, "Of the mervels of the worlde," which is followed by a series of charms--to stop a c.o.c.k crowing, to make men look as though they had no heads, to obtain rule over all birds, to keep flies away from a house, to write letters which can only be read at night, to make men look as though they had "the countenance of a dog," to make men seem as though they had three heads, to understand the language of birds, to make men seem like angels, and to put things in the fire without their being consumed.

Though lacking in the charm of the quaint and typically English _Banckes's Herbal_, the most famous of the early printed herbals was the _Grete Herball_ printed by Peter Treveris in 1526.[52]

"The grete herball whiche geueth parfyt knowlege and under- standyng of all maner of herbes & there gracyous vertues whiche G.o.d hath ordeyned for our prosperous welfare and helth, for they hele & cure all maner of dyseases and sekenesses that fall or mysfortune to all maner of creatoures of G.o.d created, practysed by many expert and wyse maysters, as Auicenna and other &c. Also it geueth full parfyte understandynge of the booke lately pryn ted by me (Peter treveris) named the n.o.ble experiens of the vertuous hand warke of surgery."

(_Colophon._) "Imprentyd at London in South- warke by me peter Treueris, dwel- lynge in the sygne of the wodows In the yere of our Lorde G.o.d M.D. XXVI the XXVII day of July."

According to the introduction it was compiled from the works of "many n.o.ble doctoures and experte maysters in medecines, as Auicenna, Pandecta, Constantinus, Wilhelmus, Platearius, Rabbi Moyses, Johannes Mesue, Haly, Albertus, Bartholomeus and more other." But with the exception of the preface the _Grete Herball_ is a translation of the well-known French herbal, _Le Grant Herbier_. Until about 1886 _Le Grant Herbier_ was supposed to be a translation of the _Herbarius zu Teutsch_, published at Mainz in 1485, or of the _Ortus Sanitatis_, printed also at Mainz in 1491.[53] The _Herbarius zu Teutsch_, which was probably compiled by a Frankfort physician, is a fine herbal beautifully ill.u.s.trated, and the later _Ortus Sanitatis_ is by some authorities supposed to be a Latin translation of it. To judge from the preface to the German Herbarius it was a labour of love, undertaken by a man who apparently was possessed of ample wealth and leisure; for in his preface he tells us that he "caused this praiseworthy work to be begun by a Master learned in physic," and then, finding that as many of the herbs did not grow in his native land he could not draw them "with their true colours and form," he left the work unfinished and journeyed through many lands--Italy, Croatia, Albania, Dalmatia, Greece, Corfu, Candia, Rhodes, Cyprus, the Holy Land, Arabia, Babylonia and Egypt. He was accompanied by "a painter ready of wit and cunning and subtle of hand," and was thus able to have the herbs "truly drawn." The book he compiled on his return was long regarded as the original of the French herbal, _Le Grant Herbier_, but in 1866 Professor Giulio Camus found two fifteenth-century ma.n.u.scripts in the Biblioteca Estense at Modena, one the Latin work commonly known from the opening words as _Circa Instans_, and the other a French translation of the same ma.n.u.script.

It was always supposed by medical historians that the _Circa Instans_ was written by Matthaeus Platearius of Salerno in the twelfth century, but in Professor Camus's memoir, _L'Opera Saleritana "Circa Instans"

ed il testo primitivo del "Grand Herbier in Francoys" secundo duo codici del secolo XV conservati nella Regia Biblioteca Estense_, there are reproduced the French verses in which occurs the line, "Il a este escript Millccc cinquante et huit," and Mr. H. M. Barlow[54] supports the deduction that _Circa Instans_ was not written by a Salernitan physician, but by a writer described in the verses as "Bartholomaeus minid' senis" in 1458. _Le Grant Herbier_, of which the English _Grete Herball_ is a translation, is a version of the French ma.n.u.script translation of _Circa Instans_, and therefore, as _Circa Instans_ is older than either the _Herbarius zu Teutsch_ or the Latin _Ortus Sanitatis_, it would seem that it is the real original of our _Grete Herball_. The preface to the _Grete Herball_, however, bears a strong resemblance to that of the German Herbarius, of which I quote a part from Dr. Arber's translation, made from the second (Augsburg) edition of 1485. They have been placed in parallel columns to show how closely the English preface follows that of the German Herbarius.

Preface to the _Herbarius zu Teutsch_.

"Many a time and oft have I contemplated inwardly the wondrous works of the creator of the universe: how in the beginning He formed the heavens and adorned them with goodly s.h.i.+ning stars, to which he gave power and might to influence everything under heaven. Also how he afterwards formed the four elements: fire, hot and dry--air, hot and moist--water, cold and moist--earth, dry and cold--and gave to each a nature of its own; and how after this the same Great Master of Nature made and formed herbs of many sorts and animals of all kinds and last of all Man, the n.o.blest of all created things. Thereupon I thought on the wondrous order which the Creator gave these same creatures of His, so that everything which has its being under heaven receives it from the stars and keeps it by their help. I considered further how that in everything which arises, grows, lives or soars in the four elements named, be it metal, stone, herb or animal, the four natures of the elements, heat, cold, moistness and dryness, are mingled. It is also to be noted that the four natures in question are also mixed and blended in the human body in a measure and temperament suitable to the life and nature of man; while man keeps within this measure ... he is strong and healthy, but as soon as he steps or falls beyond ... which happens when heat takes the upper hand and strives to stifle cold or on the contrary when cold begins to suppress heat ... he falls of necessity into sickness and draws nigh unto death.

... Of a truth I would as soon count the leaves on the trees or the grains of sand in the sea as the things which are the causes of man's sickness.

It is for this reason that so many thousands and thousands of perils and dangers beset man. He is not fully sure of his health or his life for one moment. While considering these matters, I also remembered how the Creator of Nature, who has placed us amid such dangers has mercifully provided us with a remedy, that is with all kinds of herbs, animals and other created things.... By virtue of these herbs and created things the sick man may recover the temperament of the four elements and the health of his body.

Since then man can have no greater nor n.o.bler treasure on earth than bodily health, I came to the conclusion that I could not perform any more useful and holy work than to compile a book in which could be contained the virtue and nature of many herbs and other created things, together with their true colours and for the help of all the world, and the common good, therefore I caused this praiseworthy work to be begun by a Master learned in physic who, at my request gathered into a book the nature and virtue of many herbs out of the acknowledged masters of physic, Galen, Avicenna, Serapio, Dioscorides, Pandectarius, Platearius and others."

Preface to _The Grete Herball_.

"Consyderynge the grete goodnesse of almyghty G.o.d creatour of heven and erthe, and al thynge therin comprehended to whom be eternall laude and prays etc. Consyderynge the cours and nature of the foure elementes and qualytees where to ye nature of man is inclyned, out of the whiche elementes issueth dyvers qualytees infyrmytees and dyseases in the corporate body of man, but G.o.d of his goodnesse that is creatour of all thynges hath ordeyned for mankynd (whiche he hath created to his own lykenesse) for the grete and tender love, which he hath unto hym, to whom all thinges erthely he hath ordeyned to be obeysant, for the sustentacyon and helthe of his lovynge creature mankynde whiche is onely made egally of the foure elementes and qualitees of the same, and when any of these foure habounde or hath more domynacyon, the one than the other it constrayneth ye body of man to grete infyrmytees or dyseases, for the which ye eternall G.o.d hath gyven of his haboundante Grace, vertues in all maner of herbes to cure and heale all maner of sekenesses or infyrmytees to hym befallying through the influent course of the foure elementes beforesayd and of the corrupcyons and ye venymous ayres contrarye ye helthe of man. Also of onholsam meates or drynkes, or holsam meates or drynkes taken ontemperatly whiche be called surfetes that bryngeth a man sone to grete dyseases or sekenesse, whiche dyseases ben of nombre and ompos...o...b..e to be rehersed, and fortune as well in vilages where as nother surgeons nor phisicians be dwellyng nygh by many a myle, as it dooth in good townes where they be redy at hande, wherefore brotherly love compelleth me to wryte thrugh ye gyftes of the holy ghost shewynge and enformynge how man may be holpen with grene herbes of the gardyn and wedys of ye feldys as well as by costly receptes of the potycarys prepayred."

The ill.u.s.trations in the _Grete Herball_ are poor, being merely inferior copies of those in the later editions of the _Herbarius zu Teutsch_.[55] In the majority of cases it is impossible to identify the plant from the figure, and the same figure is sometimes prefixed to different plants. But if the ill.u.s.trations are poor and dull the frontispiece and the full-page woodcut of the printer's mark are very much the reverse. The frontispiece is a charming woodcut of a man holding a spade in his right hand and gathering grapes, and a woman throwing flowers and herbs out of her ap.r.o.n into a basket. There are two figures in the lower corners, the one of a male and the other of a female mandrake. The woodcut of the printer's mark at the end sheds an interesting ray of light on the Peter Treveris who issued the two first editions of this Herball.[56] The woodcut represents two wodows[57] (savages), a man and a woman, on either side of a tree, from which is suspended a s.h.i.+eld with Peter Treveris's initials. Ames supposes that Treveris was a native of Treves and took his name from that city, but it is more likely that he was a member of the Cornish family of Treffry, which is sometimes spelt Treveris. A Sir John Treffry, who fought at Poitiers, took as supporters to his arms a wild man and woman, and one likes to find that one of his descendants perpetuated the memory of his gallant ancestor by adopting the same sign for his trade device.

The _Grete Herball_ is alphabetically arranged, for the idea of the natural relations.h.i.+p of plants was unknown at that time. But we find a "cla.s.sification" of fungi. "Fungi ben musherons. There be two maners of them, one maner is deadly and sleeth them that eateth of them and the other dooth not"! As in most sixteenth- and seventeenth-century herbals, there are quaint descriptions of a good many things besides herbs. The most gruesome of these is a substance briefly described as "mummy," and the accompanying ill.u.s.tration is of a man digging beside a tomb. "Mummy," one reads, "is a maner of spyces or confectyons that is founde in the sepulchres or tombes of dead bodyes that haue be confyct with spyces. And it is to wyte that in olde tyme men were wont to confyct the deed corpses and anoynte them with bawme and myre smellynge swete. And yet ye paynims about babylon kepe that custome for there is grete quant.i.ty of bawme. And this mummye is specially founde about the brayne and about the maronge in the rydge bone. For the blode by reason of the bawme draweth to the brayne and thereabout is chauffed. And lykewise is the brayne brent and parched and is the quantyte of mommye and so the blode is mroeued in the rydge of the backe. That mommye is to be chosen that is bryght blacke stynkynge and styffe. And that y{t} is whyt and draweth to a dymme colour and that is not stynkynge nor styffe, and that powdreth lightly is naught. It hath vertue to restrayne or staunche."[58]

[Ill.u.s.tration: WOODCUT OF PETER TREVERIS' SIGN OF THE "WODOWS"

FROM THE "GRETE HERBALL" (1529)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: WOODCUT FROM THE t.i.tLE-PAGE OF THE FOURTH EDITION OF THE "GRETE HERBALL" (1561)]

Other substances described are salt, cheese, pitch, lead, silver, gold, amber, water, starch, vinegar, b.u.t.ter, honey and the lodestone.

The dissertation on water shows very clearly that our ancestors regarded bathing as a fad, and a dangerous fad at that. The writer gloomily observes, "many folke that hath bathed them in colde water haue dyed or they came home." And those who are foolish enough to drink water he warns by quoting the authority of "Mayster Isaac," who "sayth that it is impossible for them that drynketh overmuche water in theyr youth to come to ye age that G.o.d hath ordeyned them." In the description of the lodestone we find the well-known popular belief about s.h.i.+ps being drawn to their destruction. "The lodestone, the adamant stone that draweth yren hath myghte to draw yren as Aristotle sayth. And is founde in the brymmes of the occyan see. And there be hillis of it and these hyllis drawe ye s.h.i.+ppes that haue nayles of yren to them and breke the shyppes by drawynge of the nayles out." The accompanying ill.u.s.tration is of a sinking s.h.i.+p with a man going towards the hill of adamant with uplifted hands, while another man is swimming, and a third sits calmly in the s.h.i.+p.

In view of the free use of honey in olden times, the account of honey in the _Grete Herball_ seems inadequate. "Hony is made by artyfyce and craft of bees. The whyche bees draweth the thynnest parte of the floures and partelye of the thickest and moost grosse and thereof maketh hony and waxe and also they make a substaunce that is called the honycombe. The tame hony is that that is made in the hous or hyues that labourers ordeyneth for the sayd bees to lodge and worke in. Hony is whyte in cold places and browne in warm place. And hony ought to be put in medicyne and may be kept C yeeres. There is an other that is called wylde hony and is found in woodes and is not so good as the other and is more bytter. Also there is a honey called castanea because it is made of chestayne floures that the bees sucketh and is bytter."

In the _Grete Herball_, as in _Banckes's Herball_, we find numerous instances of the use of herbs as amulets or for their effect on the mind, and for the smoking of patients with their fumes. I quote the following:--

"Betony. For them that be ferfull. For them that ben to ferfull gyue two dragmes of powdre hereof wt warme water and as moche wyne at the tyme that the fere cometh."

"Buglos. To preserve the mynde. This herbe often eaten confermeth and conserueth the mynde as many wyse maysters sayth."

"To make folke mery. Take the water that buglos hath be soden in and sprynkle it about the hous or chambre and all that be therein shall be mery."

"Vervain. To make folke mery at ye table. To make all them in a hous to be mery take foure leaves and foure rotes of vervayn in wyne, than spryncle the wine all about the hous where the eatynge is and they shall be all mery."