Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 2 1884.djvu/156

 148 THE FOLK-LOUE OF DRAYTON.

ing instances of the same kind of thing. Another medicament for sorpent-stings was agrimony or ogrimony {Agrimmia Ewpatorid), which with saxifrage {Saxifraga granulata), hart's tongue {Scolop- endrhim vulgare), and "the herb we call St. John " (^Hypericum per- foratum), was given with hope of cure to those afflicted with calculous disease. Valerian ( FaZ«r?"ana officinalis) was cropped and duly bruised, " T'apply unto the place that's haled with cramp." Mugwort {Artemesia vulgaris) came into use both in magic and in the nursery ; and humble chickweed (^Stellaria media) was, for external application, accredited with the cooling property of Rowland's costly Kalydor ; whilst sorrel {Eumex acetosa) assuaged internal heat. The power of mandrake (Atropa rnandragord), in philtres, to procure love, and, worn about the body, to correct barrenness, was unduly recognised. The spleen and liver derived comfort from horehound (^Manmhriiim vulgare), and so— at least mentally — did he who was bitten by a rabid dog. Dictam {Dictamnum creticum) had the power of expelling darts, &c. : " the Hart being pierced with the dart," says John Lyly * (who has a greater charm for the present writer than he had for Drayton), "runneth out of hand to the hearb Dictamnum, and is healed." Dodder (Cusenta) was a remedy for ague ; mallow (Malva s}/lvestris) was applied to sudden tumours ; whilst Mercury {Chenopodium bonus Henricus) and hellebore {Hellehonis niger) mundified old ulcers, the latter having, as we shall hear directly, another virtue —

" To him that hath a flux of shepherd's purse f he gives, And mouse ear \. unto him that some sharp rupture grieves ; And for the labouring wretch that's troubled with a cough, Or stopping of the breath, by phlegm that's hard and tough ; Campana § here he crops approved wondrous good, As comfrey || unto him that's bruised, spitting blood, And from the falling ill by five-leaf ^ doth restore, And melancholy cures by sovereign hellebore."

Culpepper ** remarks of five-leaved grass, " Some hold that one leaf cures a Quotidian, three a Tertian, and four a Quartan Ague, and

» Eiipkues (Arber's edition), p. 61. f Pera pattoru,

\ Ilieracium jfUosella. § Lychnis.

II Symj)hytum officinale. 5 Fotentilla reptam.
 * The English Physitian Enlarged, p. 69.