TURNER'S HERBAL AND THE INFLUENCE OF THE FOREIGN HERBALISTS
"In the beginning of winter the Goldfinches use muche to
haunte this herbe [teazle] for the sedes sake whereof they
are very desyrous."--_Turner's Herbal_, 1551.
Like so many sixteenth-century notabilities, William Turner, commonly
known as the father of English botany, was remarkably versatile, for
he was a divine, a physician and a botanist. He was a native of
Morpeth, Northumberland, and was born in Henry VIII.'s reign: the
exact date is unknown. His father is supposed to have been a tanner.
We know nothing of his early education, but he entered what is now
Pembroke College,[59] Cambridge, under the patronage of Thomas Lord
Wentworth. This he himself tells us in the preface to the second part
of his herbal, which is dedicated to Lord Wentworth of the next
generation. "And who hath deserved better to have my booke of herbs to
be given to him, than he, whose father with his yearly exhibition did
helpe me, beying student in Cambridge of Physik and philosophy?
Whereby with some further help and study am commed to this pore
knowledge of herbes and other simples that I have. Wherefore I
dedicate unto you this my litle boke, desyring you to defende it
against the envious evil speakers, which can alow nothing but that
they do themselves: and the same I give unto your Lordship, beseeching
to take it in the stede of a better thyng, and for a token of my good
will toward you, and all your father's houshold, which thing if ye
do, as sonne as I shall have convenient lesure, ye shall have the
third and last parte of my herball also. Almighty God kepe you and all
youres. Amen."
At Cambridge Turner was intimate with Nicholas Ridley (afterwards the
famous Bishop of London), and though it is interesting to know that
Ridley instructed him in Greek, it is even more attractive to learn
that the future bishop also initiated him into the mysteries of tennis
and archery. Turner did well at the university, for he was elected
Junior Fellow of his college in 1531 and Joint Treasurer in 1532, and
he had a title for Orders in 1537. Throughout his life he was a
staunch Protestant and at Cambridge he used to attend the preachings
of Hugh Latimer. We do not know how long Turner held his fellowship,
possibly till his marriage with Jane, daughter of George Ander,
Alderman of Cambridge. He left Cambridge in 1540 and travelled about,
preaching in various places. In Wood's _Athenæ Oxonienses_ we read,
"In his rambles he settled for a time in Oxon among several of his
countrymen that he found there, purposely for the conversation of men
and books.... At the same time and after, following his old trade of
preaching without a call, he was imprisoned for a considerable
time."[60] On his release he left England and travelled in Italy,
Germany and Holland. He tells us in his herbal that he visited
Cremona, Como, Milan, Venice and Chiavenna, and at Bologna[61] he
studied botany under Luca Ghini. Either there or at Ferrara he took
his M.D. degree. From Italy he went to Zurich, where he formed his
intimate and lifelong friendship with Conrad Gesner,[62] the famous
Swiss naturalist.
He subsequently visited Basle and Cologne, and it was in these two
cities that his small religious books upholding the Protestant cause
were printed. They were very popular in England, so much so that in
the last year of Henry VIII.'s reign they were prohibited. Turner
spent some time botanising in the Rhine country: in his herbal he
speaks of different plants which he collected at Bonn, Basel, Bingen,
Cologne, "Erenffelde" and "Sieburg." Then he went to Holland and East
Friesland--the latter he frequently mentions--and became physician to
the "Erle of Emden." It was probably at this time that he explored the
islands off the mainland. He was in correspondence with "Maister Riche
and maister Morgan, Apotecaries of London," two names which, it is
interesting to note, occur also in de l'Obel's works and in Gerard's
Herbal.
Turner wrote the first part of his Herbal when he was abroad, but he
delayed publication until the conclusion of his wanderings. On his
return to England he became chaplain and physician to the Duke of
Somerset, and it is generally believed that he sat in the House of
Commons.[63] He was promised the prebend of Botevant in York, and in a
letter written to thank Cecil for the promise we find the remark, "My
chylder have bene fed so long with hope that they are very leane, i
wold fayne have th[=e] fatter if it were possible."
Turner held this appointment for little more than two years, and after
failing to obtain either the provostship of Oriel College, Oxford, or
the presidency of Magdalen, he seems to have become despondent. He
wanted a house "where i may studie in and have s[=u] place to lay my
bookes in," and in another letter he complains of "being pened up in a
chamber with all my ho[use] holde seruantes and children as shepe in a
pyndfolde.... i can not go to my booke for ye crying of childer and
noyse yt is made in my chamber." Finally he begged leave to go abroad,
"where I will also finishe my great herball and my bookes of fishes,
stones and metalles if God send me lyfe and helthe." He was
subsequently made Dean of Wells, but he lost this office on the
accession of Mary, and, like so many of the Protestant divines, he
went abroad. He stayed at Bonn, Frankfort, Freiburg, Lauterburg [?
Lauenburg], Mainz, Rodekirche, Strasburg, Speyer, Worms, Cologne and
Weissenburg. At Cologne and Weissenburg he had gardens, and it was
from Cologne that he published the second part of his Herbal. His
works were proclaimed heretical for the second time in 1555, and the
Wardens of every Company had to give notice of any copy they had in
order that they might be destroyed. It is not surprising that Turner's
works are rare!
On the accession of Elizabeth he returned to England and was
reinstated in the deanery of Wells.[64] His diocesan seems to have
found him troublesome, for in 1559 the Bishop of Bath and Wells wrote:
"I am much encombred with mr. Doctor Turner Deane of Welles
for his indiscreete behavior in the pulpit where he medleth
w{th} all matters.... I have advertised him by wrytynges and
have admonished secretly by his owne frendes:
notwithstanding he persisteth still in his follie: he
conte[=n]eth all Bishopps and calleth th[=e] white coats,
typpett gentlem[=e], with other wordes of reproche [mu]che
more unsemlie and asketh 'who gave them autoritie more ouer
me then I ouer them'?
"GILBERT BATH AND WELLS."
_January 24,
1559-60._
There is a story told that Turner trained his dog at a given sign to
snatch the bishop's square cap off his head when the prelate was
dining with him. If this is true, possibly it accounts for the fact
that he was subsequently suspended for Nonconformity, after which,
being precluded from clerical duties, he left Wells and returned to
London. He lived in Crutched Friars and, like the two other
Elizabethan herbalists, had a famous garden. He was in failing health
when he completed his herbal, and there is extant a pathetic letter
(the greater part of it written by an amanuensis) to his staunch
patron Lord Burleigh, which is signed "Your old and seikly client
wllm turner doctor of physic."
Turner died in 1568, and was buried in S. Olave's, Crutched Friars,
where the tablet to his memory can still be seen.
CLARISSIMO . DOCTISSIMO . FORTISSIMOQUE . VIRO | GULIELMO .
TURNERO . MEDICO . AC . THEOLOGICO . PERITISSI | MO .
DECANO . WELLENSI . PER . ANNOS . TRIGINTA . IN . VTRAQUE |
SCIENTIA . EXERCITATISSIMVS . ECCLESIAE . ET . REI . PUBLICAE |
PROFVIT . ET . CONTRA . VTRIVSQUE . PERNITIOSISSIMOS . HOS |
TES . MAXIME . VERO . ROMANUM . ANTICHRISTVM . FORTISSIMUS |
JESU . CHRISTI . MILES . ACERRIME . DIMICAVIT . AC . TANDEM .
COR | PUS . SENIO . ET . LABORIBUS . CONFECTVM . IN . SPEM .
BEATISSIM : |
RESVRRECTIONIS . HIC . DEPOSVIT . ANIMAM . IMMORTALEM |
CHARISSIMO . EIVSQUE . SANCTISSIMO . DEO . REDDIDIT . ET .
DEVICTIS . CHRISTI . VIRTUTE . MVNDI . CARNISQUE . VIRIBUS .
TRIUMPHAT IN AETERNUM .
MAGNVS . APOLLINEA . QVONDAM . TVRNERVS . IN . ARTE
MAGNUS . ET . IN . VERA . RELIGIONE . FVIT .
MORS . TAMEN . OBREPENS . MAIOREM . REDDIDIT ILLVM .
CIVIS . ENIM . CAELI . REGNA . SVPERNA . TENET
OBIIT . 7 DIE . IVLII . AN . DOM . 1568 .
In his will, which is too long to quote here, Turner bequeathed to his
wife[65] "his best pece or syluer vessell and halfe dozen of syluer
spones," and to his nephew "my lyttell furred gowne." Peter, the son
to whom he left "all my writen bookes and if he be a preacher all my
diuinitie bookes, & yf he practise Phisicke all my physicke bookes,"
had some knowledge of plants, for in a copy of Turner's Herbal in the
Linnean Society's Library there is a long list of errata for which
Peter Turner apologised in an Address to the Reader. There is
something very naïve and charming about Peter's admiration for his
father's "fame and estimation." He tells us that he has diligently
compared the printed book with his father's "owne hande copie," and
refrains from having the whole book printed again because "I should
have done against Charitie to have caused the Printer by that meanes
to lose all his labor and cost which he hath bestowed in printing
hereof. Wherefore, gentle Reader, beare a little with the Printer that
never was much accustomed to the printing of Englishe and afore thou
reade over this booke correct it as I haue appointed and then the
profit thereof will abundantly recompense thy paynes. In the meane
time vse this Herbale in stede of a better and give all laude and
prayse unto the Lorde."
Turner was the first Englishman who studied plants scientifically, and
his herbal marks the beginning of the science of botany in England.
Like most writers of any value, he impressed his personality upon his
books, and these show him to have been a man of indomitable character,
caustic wit and independent thought. "Vir solidae eruditionis judicii"
he is called by John Ray. His first botanical work was the _Libellus
de re herbaria novus_ (1538), printed by John Byddell in London. This
little book is particularly interesting, because it is the first in
which localities of native British plants are given. In 1548 he
published another small book entitled _The names of herbes in Greke,
Latin, Englishe, Duche, and Frenche wyth the commone names that
Herbaries and Apotecaries use, gathered by William Turner_. In the
preface he tells us that he had begun to "set furth an herbal in
latyn," but that when he asked the advice of physicians, "their advise
was that I shoulde cease from settynge out of this boke in latin till
I had sene those places of Englande, wherein is moste plentie of
herbes, that I might in my herbal declare to the greate honoure of our
countre what numbre of sovereine and strang herbes were in England,
that were not in other nations, whose counsell I have folowed,
deferrying to set out my herbal in latyn, tyl that I have sene the
west countrey, which I never sawe yet in al my lyfe, which countrey of
al places of England, as I heare say, is moste richely replenished
wyth al kindes of straunge and wonderfull workes and giftes of nature
as are stones, herbes, fishes and metalles, when as they that moued
me to the settyng furth of my latin herbal, hearde this so reasonable
an excuse, they moved me to set out an herbal in Englishe as Fuchsius
dyd in latine wyth the discriptions, figures and properties of as many
herbes, as I had sene and knewe, to whom I could make no other answere
but that I had no such leasure in this vocation and place that I am
nowe in, as is neccessary for a man that shoulde take in hande suche
an interprise. But thys excuse coulde not be admitted for both
certeine scholars, poticaries, and also surgeons, required of me if
that I woulde not set furth my latin herbal, before I have sene the
west partes, and have no leasure in thys place and vocation to write
so great a worke, at the least to set furth my judgement of the names
of so many herbes as I knew, whose request I have accomplished, and
have made a litle boke, which is no more but a table or regestre of
suche bokes as I intende by the grace of God to set furth hereafter;
if that I may obteine by your graces healp such libertie and leasure
with convenient place, as shall be necessary for suche a purpose."
Turner's notable work, his Herbal, is the only original work on botany
written by any Englishman in the sixteenth century. The first part of
it was printed in London by Steven Mierdman, a Protestant refugee from
Antwerp, in 1551. The second part was printed by Arnold Birckman, at
Cologne, in 1561, during Turner's enforced exile. Birckman also
printed the edition of 1568, which contained all three parts. (For the
full title, etc., see Bibliography of Herbals, p. 208.)
One of the most attractive features of this Herbal is the number of
beautiful woodcuts with which it is illustrated. A few were specially
drawn and cut for the author, but the great majority are reproductions
of the exquisite drawings in Fuchs's herbals (_De historia Stirpium_,
1545; and _Neue Kreüterbuch_, 1543). Nearly all the illustrations in
the famous sixteenth-century Flemish, English and Swiss herbals were
printed from the actual wood-blocks or copied from the illustrations
in Fuchs's works. Notably in Hieronymus Bock's _Kreüter Buch_ (1546),
Rembert Dodoens's _Cruÿdtboeck_ (1554), Henry Lyte's _Niewe Herball_
(1578), and Jean Bauhin's _Historia plantarum universalis_ (1651). It
is a remarkable fact that so far as wood-engraving is concerned this
country has contributed nothing to the art of plant illustration. In
the first English illustrated Herbal, the _Grete Herball_ of 1526, the
figures are merely copies of the inferior cuts in the later editions
of the _Herbarius zu Teutsch_, and, with the exception of Parkinson's
_Paradisus_, all the English sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century
herbals borrowed their illustrations from Flemish or German sources.
Fuchs had two sets of blocks for his Herbal, one for the folio edition
of 1542 and the other for the octavo edition of 1545. It was the
blocks for the latter which were borrowed by Turner's printer, and it
has been suggested that it was his desire to secure these beautiful
illustrations which led him to have his herbal printed at Cologne.[66]
Over 400 of Fuchs's blocks were used in the complete edition of
Turner's Herbal, and, of the rest, some are copied from the smaller
figures in Mattioli's[67] commentary on Dioscorides.
Turner dedicated the first part of his Herbal (1551) to the Duke of
Somerset, uncle to Edward VI., and at that time Lord Protector. The
preface is delightful and I quote a part of it:--
"To the mighty and christiane Prince Edward, Duke of
Summerset, Erle of Herford, Lorde Beauchampe, and Uncle unto
the Kynges maiesty, Wyllyam Turner his servant wysheth
increase in the knowledge of Goddes holy worde and grace to
lyue thereafter. Although (most myghty and Christian Prince)
there be many noble and excellent actes and sciences, which
no man douteth but that almyghty God, the author of all
goodness, hath gyuen unto us by the hands of the Hethen, as
necessary unto the use of Mankynd: yet is there none among
them all, whych is so openly c[=o]mended by the verdit of
any holy writer in the Bible, as is ye knowledge of plantes,
herbes, and trees and of Phisick. I do not remembre that I
have red anye expressed commendations of Grammer, Logick,
Philosophie, naturall or morall, Astronomie, Arithmetyke,
Geometry, Cosmographie, Musycke, Perspectiue or any other
such lyke science. But I rede amonge the commendatyons and
prayses of Kyng Salomon, that he was sene in herbes shrubbes
and trees and so perfectly that he disputed wysely of them
from the hyghest to the lowest, that is from the Cedre tre
in Mount Liban unto the Hysop that groweth furth of the
wall. If the Knowledge of Herbes, shrubbes and trees which
is not the lest necessary thynge unto the knowledge of
Phisicke were not greatly commendable it shulde never have
bene set among Salomon's commendacyons and amongst the
singular giftes of God. Therefor whereas Salomon was
commended for the Knowledge of Herbes the same Knowledge was
expressedly ynough co[=m]ended there also." Continuing, he
speaks of learned Englishmen "Doctor Clement, Doctor Wendy
and Doctor Owen, Doctor Wolton and Maister Falconer"[68]
which "have as much knowledge in herbes yea and more than
diuerse Italianes and Germanes whyche have set forth in
prynte Herballes and bokes of simples. Yet hath none of al
these set furth any thyng other to the generall profit of
hole Christendome in latin and to the honor of thys realme,
nether in Englysh to the proper profit of their naturall
countre." After slyly observing that perhaps they do not
care to jeopardise their estimation, he compares himself,
for having ventured to write this book, with the soldier
"who is more frendly unto the commonwealth, which
adventurously runneth among the myddes of hys enemyes, both
gyuyng and takyng blowes, then he that, whilse other men
feight, standeth in the top of a tre iudging how other men
do, he beynge without the danger of gonne shot himself."
To those who may object that it is too small, he explains that he will
write more fully when he has "travelled diverse shyres in England to
learn more of the herbs that grow there." Others may condemn him for
writing in English, "for now (say they) every man without any study of
necessary artes unto the knowledge of Phisick will become a Phisician
... euery man nay euery old wyfe will presume, not without the mordre
of many, to practyse Phisick." To these he succinctly replies, "How
many surgianes and apothecaries are there in England which can
understand Plini in Latin or Galen and Dioscorides?" The English
physicians, he says, rely on the apothecaries, and they in turn on the
old wives who gather the herbs. Moreover, since the physicians are not
present when their prescriptions are made up, "many a good m[=a] by
ignorance is put in jeopardy of his life, or good medecine is marred
to the great dishonesty both of the Phisician and of Goddes worthy
creatures." All this can be avoided by having a herbal written in
English. Dioscorides and Galen, he points out, wrote in their native
tongue, Greek. "Dyd Dioscorides and Galen give occasion for every old
wyfe to take in h[=a]d the practise of Phisick? Did they giue any iust
occasion of murther? If they gaue no occasyon unto every old wyfe to
practise physike then give I none. If they gave no occasion of murther
then gyue I none ... then am I no hynderer wryting unto the English my
countremen an English herball."
The second part of Turner's Herbal is dedicated to his old patron,
Thomas Lord Wentworth, and the complete work, including the third
part, to Queen Elizabeth.[69] In the preface to this last he reminds
the queen of a conversation he had had with her in Latin eighteen
years before, at the Duke of Somerset's house, when he was physician
to that nobleman. It is in this preface also that he criticises the
foreign herbalists; though he has learnt much from them, they had much
to learn from him, "as their second editions maye testifye." He claims
that in the first part of his herbal he taught "the truth of certeyne
plants which these above-named writers (Matthiolus, Fuchsius, Tragus
and Dodoneus) either knew not at al or ellis erred in them
greatlye.... And because I would not be lyke unto a cryer yt cryeth a
loste horse in the marketh, and telleth all the markes and tokens that
he hath, and yet never sawe the horse, nether coulde knowe the horse
if he sawe him: I wente into Italye and into diverse partes of
Germany, to knowe and se the herbes my selfe."
The book owes much of its charm to its vivid descriptions of the
plants, and the fascinating and unexpected details he gives us about
them. The comparison of dodder, for instance, to "a great red harpe
strynge," is a happy touch which it is impossible to forget. "Doder
groweth out of herbes and small bushes as miscelto groweth out of
trees. Doder is lyke a great red harpe strynge and it wyndeth about
herbes foldyng mych about them and hath floures and knoppes one from
an other a good space.... The herbes that I have marked doder to growe
most in are flax and tares."
These accurate observations and careful descriptions are
characteristic of the writer, and recall similar touches in the Saxon
herbals. For example, he records that the stamens of the Madonna lily
have a different smell from the flower itself, and that the berries of
the bay tree are almost, but not quite, round. There is only space to
quote the following:--
"The lily hath a long stalk and seldom more than one,
howbeit it hath somtyme II. It is II or III cubites hyghe.
It hath long leves and somthyng of the fashion of the great
satyrion. The flour is excedyng white and it hath the forme
or fashion of a long quiver, that is to say, smal at the
one end and byg at the other. The leves of the floures are
full of crestes, and the overmost ends of the leves bowe a
little backwarde and from the lowest parte within come forth
long small yelow thynges lyke thredes of another smelle than
the floures are of. The roote is round and one pece groweth
hard to another allmoste after the maner of the roote of
Garleke, but that the clowes in the lily are broder."
"The leaves of the Bay tree are alwayes grene and in figure
and fashion they are lyke unto periwincle. They are long and
brodest in the middest of the lefe. They are blackishe grene
namely when they are olde. They are curled about the edges,
they smell well. And when they are casten into the fyre they
crake wonderfully. The tre in England is no great tre, but
it thryveth there many partes better and is lustier than in
Germany. The berries are allmoste round but not altogether.
The kirnell is covered with a thick black barke which may
well be parted from the kirnell."
"Blewbottel groweth in ye corne, it hath a stalke full of
corners, a narrow and long leefe. In the top of the stalke
is a knoppy head whereupon growe bleweflowers about
midsummer. The chylder use to make garlandes of the floure.
It groweth much amonge Rye wherefore I thinke that good ry
in an evell and unseasonable yere doth go out of kinde in to
this wede."
"Pennyroyal.--It crepeth much upon the ground and hath many
lytle round leves not unlyke unto the leves of merierum
gentil but that they are a little longer and sharper and
also litle indented rounde about, and grener than the leves
of meriurum ar. The leves grow in litle branches even from
the roote of certayn ioyntes by equall spaces one devyded
from an other. Where as the leves grow in litle tuftes upon
the over partes of the braunches.... Pennyroyal groweth
much, without any setting, besyd hundsley [Hounslow] upon
the heth beside a watery place."
Of camomile he writes: "It hath floures wonderfully
shynynge yellow and resemblynge the appell of an eye ... the
herbe may be called in English, golden floure. It will
restore a man to hys color shortly yf a man after the longe
use of the bathe drynke of it after he is come forthe oute
of the bath. This herbe is scarce in Germany but in England
it is so plenteous that it groweth not only in gardynes but
also VIII mile above London, it groweth in the wylde felde,
in Rychmonde grene, in Brantfurde grene.... Thys herb was
consecrated by the wyse men of Egypt unto the sonne and was
rekened to be the only remedy of all agues."
Unlike modern authorities, Turner contends that our English hyssop is
the same plant as that mentioned in the Bible, and he also describes a
species which does not now exist. "We have in Sumershire beside ye
c[=o]m[=e] Hysop that groweth in all other places of Englande a kinde
of Hysop that is al roughe and hory and it is greater muche and
stronger then the c[=o]men Hysop is, som call it rough Hysop." Another
plant which seems to have disappeared and which, he states, no other
writer describes, is "the wonderful great cole with leaves thrise as
thike as ever I saw any other cole have. It hath whyte floures and
round berryes lyke yvy. This herbe groweth at douer harde by the
Sea-syde. I name it the Douer cole because I founde it first besyde
Douer." Incidentally he mentions samphire also as growing at Dover.
It is interesting to find that Turner identifies the _Herba
Britannica_ of Dioscorides and Pliny (famed for having cured the
soldiers of Julius Cæsar of scurvy in the Rhine country) with
_Polygonum bistorta_, which he observed plentifully in Friesland, the
scene of Pliny's observations. This herb is held by more modern
authorities to be _Rumex aquations_ (great water dock).
[Illustration: ILLUSTRATIONS FROM TURNER'S "HERBAL"]
Throughout the Herbal there are recollections of the north of England,
where the author spent his boyhood. Of heath, for instance, he tells
us: "The hyest hethe that ever I saw groweth in Northumberland,
which is so hyghe that a man may hyde himself in." Of the wild
hyacinth he writes: "The boyes in North[=u]berland scrape the roote of
the herbe and glew theyr arrowes and bokes wyth that slyme that they
scrape of." Of sea-wrake (seaweed) he tells us: "In the Bishopriche of
Durham the housbandmen of the countie that dwel by the sea syde use to
fate [fatten, _i. e._ manure] their lande with seawrake." Under
"birch" we find: "Fisherers in Northumberland pyll off the uttermost
barke and put it in the clyft of a sticke and set in fyre and hold it
at the water syde and make fish come thether, whiche if they se they
stryke with theyr leysters or sammon speres. The same," he continues,
"is good to make hoopes of and twigges for baskettes, it is so
bowinge. It serveth for many good uses and for none better then for
betinge of stubborne boyes that ether lye or will not learne."
Cudweed "is called in Northumberland chafwede because it is thought to
be good for chafyng of any man's fleshe wyth goynge or rydynge." And
it would be interesting to know if the daisy is still called banwurt
in the north. "The Northern men call thys herbe banwurt because it
helpeth bones to knyt agayne.... Plinie writeth that the dasey hath
III and sometimes IV little whyte leves whiche go about the yelow
knope, it appereth that the double Daseys were not founde in plinies
tyme whych have a greate dele mo then Plini maketh mention of."
There are other country customs which he records. "Shepherds use
clivers [goosegrass] in stede of a strayner to pull out here of the
mylke;" "birderers [bird-catchers] take bowes of birch and lime the
twigges and go a bat folinge with them;" "som make a lee [lye] or an
ashy water of the rotes of gentian wherwyth they toke out spottes very
well out of cloth." He mentions woad as "trimmed wyth mannes labor in
dyenge and wull and clothe," and teazle "which the fullers dresse
their cloth wtall." Apparently Turner gave the spindle tree its name,
for he says: "I coulde never learne an Englishe name for it. The
Duche men call it in Netherlande, spilboome, that is, spindel tree,
because they use to make spindels of it in that countrey, and me
thynke it maye be so well named in English seying we have no other
name.... I know no good propertie that this tree hath, saving only it
is good to make spindels and brid of cages" [bird cages].
The use of complexion washes was a custom on which Turner was
alarmingly severe. There are fewer beauty recipes in his herbal than
in any other--only four altogether. "Some weomen," we find, "sprinkle
ye floures of cowslip w{t} whyte wine and after still it and wash
their faces w{t} that water to drive wrinkles away and to make them
fayre in the eyes of the worlde rather then in the eyes of God, whom
they are not afrayd to offend." And of marygold we learn that "Summe
use to make theyr here yelow with the floure of this herbe, not beyng
cont[=e]t with the naturall colour which God hath geven th[=e]."
There is curiously little folk lore in this herbal, and most of it is
guarded by "some do say" or "some hold." Nevertheless, with this
qualification, Turner gives us fragments of folk lore not to be found
in other herbals. For instance, that nutshells burnt and bound to the
back of a child's head will make grey eyes black, and that parsley
thrown into fish ponds will heal the sick fishes therein. Again, this
is the first herbal in which any account is to be found of the very
old custom of curing disease in cattle by boring a hole in the ear and
inserting the herb bearfoot.[70]
"They say it should be used thus. The brodest part of the ear must
have a round circle made about it w{t} the blood that rinneth furth
with a brasen botken and the same circle must be round lyke unto the
letter O, and when this is done without and in the higher part of the
ear the halfe of the foresaid circle is to be bored thorowe with the
foresaid botken and the roote of the herbe is to be put in at the
hole, when y{t} newe wounde that hath receyued it holdeth it so fast,
that it will not let it go furth, then all the mighte and pestilent
poison of the disease is brought so into the eare. And whilse the part
which is circled aboute dyeth and falleth awaye y{t} hole beast is
saved with the lose of a very small parte."
Another piece of folk lore is remarkable because it is the only
instance in an English herbal of a belief in the effect of a human
being on a plant: "If ye woulde fayne have very large and greate
gourdes, then take sedes that growe there [in the sides].... And let
weomen nether touche the yonge gourdes nor loke upon them, for the
only touchinge and sighte of weomen kille the yonge gourdes." This
belief he quotes from Pliny.
Turner, again, is the only old herbalist who refers to the old and
widespread belief that larch was fire-proof. It was largely used, he
tells us, for laying under the tiles of newly-built houses, as "a sure
defence against burning," and he narrates at length how Julius Cæsar
was unable to burn a tower built with larch. On the old mandrake
legend he is scathing. "The rootes which are counterfited and made
like litle puppettes and mammettes which come to be sold in England in
boxes with heir [hair] and such forme as man hath, are nothyng elles
but folishe fened trifles and not naturall. For they are so trymmed of
crafty theves to mocke the poore people withall and to rob them both
of theyr wit and theyr money. I have in my tyme at diverse tymes
tak[=e] up the rootes of mandrake out of the grounde but I never saw
any such thyng upon or in them as are in and upon the pedlers rootes
that are comenly to be solde in boxes. It groweth not under galloses
[gallows] as a certayn doting doctor of Colon in his physick lecture
dyd teach hys auditors." But he accepts without question the belief in
its efficacy as an anæsthetic: "It is given to those who must be
burned or cut in some place that they should not fele the burning or
cuttyng." Of wine made of it, he says: "If they drynk thys drynke they
shall fele no payne, but they shall fall into a forgetfull and
slepishe drowsiness. Of the apples of mandrake, if a man smell of them
thei will make hym slepe and also if they be eaten. But they that
smell to muche of the apples become dum ... thys herbe diverse wayes
taken is very jepardus for a man and may kill hym if he eat it or
drynk it out of measure and have no remedy from it.... If mandragora
be taken out of measure by and by slepe ensueth and a great lousing of
the streyngthe with a forgetfulness."
Turner is one of the few herbalists who cautions against the excessive
use of any herb. "Onions eaten in meat largely make the head ake, they
make them forgetfull whiche in the tyme of syknes use them out of
mesure." "Cole engendreth euell and melancholie juice. It dulleth the
syght and it troubleth the slepe wyth contrary thynges which are sene
in the dreme." Of nigella he writes: "Take hede that ye take not to
muche of this herbe, for if ye go beyonde the mesure it bryngeth
deth." "Hemp seed," he says, "if it be taken out of measure taketh
men's wyttes from th[=e] as coriander doth." "If any person use
saffron measurably it maketh in them a good colour, but if thei use it
out of mesure it maketh hym loke pale, and maketh the hede ache and
hurteth the appetite." For those who have taken an overdose of opium
there is a surprising remedy. "If the pacient be to much slepi put
stynkynge thynges unto hys nose to waken hym therewith." As in all
herbals of this period, there are an astonishing number of remedies
against melancholy and suggestions for those whose weak brains will
not stand much strong drink; but, while remedies for broken heads, so
common in the older herbals, are conspicuously absent, we find that
walnuts are recommended "for the bytings both of men and dogges"!
As in the _Grete Herball_, there are many descriptions of other
substances besides herbs, some of the longest being of dates, rice,
olives, citron, pomegranates and lentils. The account of citron it
would be pleasant to transcribe in full, not for the sake of the story
but for the manner of the telling. One could listen to a sermon of
considerable length from a divine who, in a book intended for
grown-ups, has a tale of "two naughty murthering robbers, condemned
for theyr murder and robery to be flayn and poysoned to deth of
serpentes, and such venemous bestes," and of the one who, owing to
having eaten "a pece of citron," remained, Daniel-like, unhurt by the
poison of the snakes, whilst the other who had not taken this
precaution "fell down sterk dede." And finally, the moral--"Wherefore
it were wisdome that noblemen and other that are bydden to dynner of
theyr enemies or suspected frendes before they eat any other thyng
should take a pece of citron."
The later sixteenth-century herbalists owed much to the famous
herbalists of the Netherlands, and above all to that prince amongst
publishers, Christophe Plantin of Antwerp, whose personality secured
him a unique place in the literary world. Indeed, there is a splendour
about the works of the Flemish herbalists unequalled by any others of
this period, with the exception of the Bavarian doctor Leonhard Fuchs.
There is no comparison between them and the Italian herbalists of the
Renaissance, who, for the greater part, devoted themselves to studying
the classical writers and identifying the plants mentioned by the old
authorities. France, curiously enough, contributed comparatively
little when the herbal was at its zenith, though it must of course be
remembered that the Bauhins, who rank as Swiss herbalists, were of
French extraction. But it is difficult to estimate the influence of
the works of those three notable friends, Rembert Dodoens, Charles de
l'Escluse and Matthias de l'Obel, particularly on the English
herbalists. The most famous English herbal--Gerard's--is virtually a
translation of the _Pemptades_ of Dodoens. Lyte's translation of the
_Cruÿdtboeck_ was the standard work on herbs during the latter part of
the century, and Parkinson incorporated a large part of de l'Obel's
unfinished book in his _Theatrum Botanicum_.
De l'Obel, after whom the little garden flower--lobelia--is named,
spent the greater part of his life in England. He was a Fleming by
birth and a doctor by profession,[71] and he was physician to William
the Silent until his assassination. About 1569 he came over to England
(with his friend Pena, who at one time was physician to Louis XIII.)
and lived at Highgate with his son-in-law. He superintended Lord
Zouche's garden at Hackney, and later was given the title of botanist
to James I. L'Obel's great work, written in collaboration with Pena,
was the _Stirpium Adversaria Nova_, printed in London by Thomas
Purfoot in 1571.[72] Pulteney, in his _Biographical Sketches_ (1790),
makes the extraordinary statement that Christophe Plantin of Antwerp
was the real printer. It has, however, been pointed out by modern
authorities that the archives of the Plantin Museum show that Plantin
bought 800 copies of Purfoot's edition, with the wood blocks, for 1320
florins. In 1576 Plantin published de l'Obel's _Plantarum seu Stirpium
historia_, and to this he appended the first part of the _Adversaria_,
keeping Purfoot's original colophon.
Although Dodoens neither lived in England nor had any of his works
printed here, his _Cruÿdtboeck_ became one of the standard works in
this country through Lyte's translation. Dodoens was born at Malines
about 1517 and, after studying at Louvain, visited the universities
and medical schools of France, Italy and Germany, graduated M.D., and
was appointed physician to Maximilian II. and Rudolf II. successively.
In the latter part of his life he was Professor of Medicine at Leyden,
where he died in 1585. Plantin published Dodoens's most important
work, _Stirpium historiæ pemptades sex sive libri triginta_, in which
some of the figures are copied from the fifth-century manuscript[73]
copy of Dioscorides. Dodoens's first book, the _Cruÿdtboeck_, was
translated into French by his friend Charles de l'Escluse[74] and
afterwards into English by Henry Lyte.
Lyte, who was an Oxford man, travelled extensively in his youth and
made a collection of rare plants. He contributed nothing original to
the literature on herbs, but his translation of the French version of
the _Cruÿdtboeck_ was an inestimable service. His own copy of the
French version, which is now in the British Museum, has on the
title-page the quaint inscription "Henry Lyte taught me to speake
Englishe." The book is full of MS. notes and references to Turner.
The full title of Lyte's book is as follows: "A niewe Herball or
Historie of Plantes: wherein is contayned the whole discourse and
perfect description of all sortes of Herbes and Plantes: their divers
and sundry kindes: their straunge Figures, Fashions and Shapes: their
Names, Natures, Operations, and Vertues: and that not only of those
which are here growyng in this our Countrie of Englande but of all
others also of forrayne Realmes, commonly used in Physicke. First set
foorth in the Doutche or Almaigne tongue by that learned D. Rembert
Dodoens, Physition to the Emperour: And nowe first translated out of
French into English by Henry Lyte Esquyer."
(_Colophon._) "Imprinted at Antwerpe by Me Henry Loë Booke printer and
are to be solde at London in Paul's churchyarde by Gerard Dewes."[75]
The beautiful illustrations in Lyte's _Dodoens_ are to a large extent
printed from the same blocks as those in the octavo edition (1545) of
Fuchs. In Fuchs there are about 516 illustrations, and in Lyte's
_Dodoens_ about 870. Those which are not copied from Fuchs were
probably collected by Dodoens himself, who, according to some verses
at the beginning of the herbal, took a practical interest in the
publication of the English translation of his book.
"Till Rembert he did sende additions store,
For to augment Lyte's travell past before."
The original wood-blocks never came to England, and three years later
van der Loë's widow sold them to Christophe Plantin for 420 florins.
All the commendatory verses at the beginning of Lyte's herbal are in
Latin, except some lines in which William Clowes speaks of writing
about herbs as "a fit occupation for gentlemen and wights of worthy
fame," and recalls the great men who have immortalised themselves
thereby, notably Gentius, Lysimachus, Mythridates and Dioscorides.
Then, after giving due praise to Dodoens, "Whose learned skill hath
offered first this worthy worke to vewe," Clowes ends with four lines
in which he plays upon the name of the translator:
"And Lyte, whose toyle hath not bene light to dye it in this grayne,
Deserves no light regarde of us: but thankes and thankes agayne.
And sure I am all English hartes that lyke of Physickes lore
Will also lyke this gentleman: and thanke hym muche therefore."
The herbal is dedicated to Queen Elizabeth "as the best token of love
and diligence that I am at this time able to shew.... And doubtless if
my skill in the translation were answerable to the worthynesse eyther
of the Historie itselfe or of the Authours thereof I doubt not but I
should be thought to haue honoured your Maiestie with an acceptable
present." The preface is dated from "my poore house at Lytes carie
within your Maiesties Countie of Somerset the first day of Januarie
MDLXXVIII."
In 1606 there appeared the book commonly known as _Ram's little
Dodoen_. It purported to be an epitome of Lyte's _Dodoens_, but,
though some of its matter has been abridged from Dodoens's work, it is
in reality a compilation of recipes unworthy of the great name it
bears. In his preface the author tells us: "I have bestowed some tyme
in reducing the most exquisit new herball or history of plants (first
set forth in Dutch and Almayne tongue by the learned and worthy man of
famous memory Dr. Rembert Dodeon (_sic_) Phisician to the Emperor, and
translated into English by Master Henry Lyte Esq.), with a brief and
short epitome ... so as where the great booke at large is not to be
had but at a great price, which cannot be procured by the poorer
sort, my endevor herein hath bin chiefly to make the benefit of so
good, necessary and profitable a worke to be brought within the reach
and compasse as well of you my poore countrymen and women whose lives,
healths, ease and welfare is to be regarded with the rest, at a
smaller price than the great volume is. My onely and greatest care
hath byn of long tyme to knowe or thinke how and upon whome to bestow
the dedication of this my small labour. And in the penning of this my
letter my Affections are satisfied with the dedication thereof to
these my poore and loving countrymen whosoever and to whose hands
soever it may come. For whose sake I have desired publicati[=o] of the
same, beseeching Almighty God to blesse us all."
The book is curiously arranged, for on one page we have "the practice
of Dodoen," and on the opposite "the practises of others for the same
Phisike helpes, collected and presented to the Author of this
Treatise." There are directions for each month, and each is headed by
a motto. The twelve mottoes, when read together, form the following
quaint rhyme:--
"January. With this fyre I warme my hand
February. With this spade I digge my land
March. Here I cut my Vine spring
April. Here I hear the birds sing
May. I am as fresh as bird on bough
June. Corn is weeded well enough
July. With this sithe my grasse I mowe
August. Here I cut my corne full lowe
September. With this flaile I earne my bread
October. Here I sowe my wheats so red
November. With this axe I kill my swine
December. And here I brew both ale and wine."
There are some things in this little handbook worthy of remembrance,
notably an imaginative passage in which the author tells us that
"herbs that grow in the fields are better than those which grow in
gardens, and of those herbs which grow in the fieldes, such as grow on
hilles are best."
FOOTNOTES:
[59] Then "Marie Valence Hall." (Founded in 1347 by Marie widow of
Aylmer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke.)
[60] It has been suggested that Turner was imprisoned for his refusal
to subscribe to the Six Articles and that he recanted to save his
life. But, as Dr. B. D. Jackson has pointed out, Turner was made of
sterner stuff and his whole life and writings are a standing
contradiction to any such supposition.
[61] One of the earliest botanic gardens in Europe was at Bologna. It
was founded by Luca Ghini. It is interesting to see how frequently
Turner in his herbal quotes Ghini, and cites his authority against
other commentators. Luca Ghini was the first who erected a separate
professorial chair at Bologna for Botanical Science. He himself
lectured on Dioscorides for twenty-eight years. He was the preceptor
of Caesalpinus and Anquillara, two of the soundest critics on
botanical writings of that age.
The most famous public botanical gardens in Europe during the
sixteenth, seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were the
following. I give them in the order in which they were made:--
1533--Padua.
1544--Florence.
1547--Bologna.
1570--Paris.
1598--Montpellier.
1628--Jena.
1632--Oxford.
1637--Upsala.
1673--Chelsea.
1675--Edinburgh.
1677--Leyden.
1682--Amsterdam.
1725--Utrecht.
The first botanic garden in America was founded in Philadelphia by
John Bartram, the great American botanist, in the middle of the
eighteenth century.
[62] Gesner had a high opinion of Turner, of whom he wrote:--
"Ante annos 15, aut circiter cum Anglicus ex Italia rediens me
salutaret (Turnerus) is fuerit vir excellentis tum in re medica tum
aliis plerisque disciplinis doctrinae aut alius quisquam vix satis
memini."--_De Herbis Lunariis_, 1555.
[63] The Duke of Somerset was himself keenly interested in botanical
investigations, and Turner frequently refers to the Duke's garden. It
was during this time that Turner had his own garden at Kew. That he
sat in the House of Commons is generally supposed from a passage in
his _Spiritual Physik_, and this view is sustained by the character of
the Hunter in his _Romish Wolfe_.
[64] It has been asserted in some accounts of Turner that he was a
Canon of Windsor, but this is a mistake. The Canon of Windsor was
Richard Turner, also a Protestant, and, like the herbalist, exiled
during Mary's reign.
[65] Turner's widow subsequently married Richard Cox, who became
Bishop of Ely. She founded a scholarship at Cambridge in memory of her
first husband.
[66] It was for the same reason that Henry Lyte's translation of
Dodoens was printed abroad.
[67] Pierandrea Mattioli (1501-1577) was physician successively to the
Archduke Ferdinand and to the Emperor Maximilian II. With the
exception of Fabio Colonna he was the greatest of the Italian
herbalists.
[68] This was probably the John Falconer who sent English plants to
Amatus Lusitanus, who taught physic at Ferrara and Ancona, and whose
commentary on Dioscorides was published in 1553.
[69] Queen Elizabeth's love of gardening and her botanical knowledge
were celebrated in a long Latin poem by an Italian who visited England
in 1586 and wrote under the name of Melissus (see _Archæologia_, VII.
120).
[70] Parkinson in his _Theatrum Botanicum_ also mentions this use of
bearfoot.
[71] He studied medicine at Montpelier under Guillaume Rondelet, who
bequeathed him his botanical manuscripts. D'Aléchamps, Pena and Jean
Bauhin, all famous herbalists, were also pupils of Rondelet.
[72] For full title see Bibliography of Herbals, p. 210.
[73] This manuscript, now in the Vienna Library, was bought from a Jew
in Constantinople for 100 ducats by Auger-Geslain Busbecq, when he was
on a mission to Turkey.
[74] On one of his visits to England de l'Escluse met Sir Francis
Drake, who gave him plants from the New World.
[75] For subsequent editions see Bibliography of Herbals, p. 211.