JOHN PARKINSON, THE LAST OF THE GREAT ENGLISH HERBALISTS
"For truly from all sorts of Herbes and Flowers we may draw
matter at all times not only to magnifie the Creator that
hath given them such diversities of formes sents and
colours, that the most cunning Worke man cannot imitate, and
such vertues and properties, that although wee know many,
yet many more lye hidden and unknowne, but many good
instructions also to ourselves. That as many herbes and
flowers with their fragrant sweet smels doe comfort, and as
it were revive the spirits and perfume a whole house: even
so such men as live vertuously, labouring to doe good and
profit the Church of God and the Commonwealth by their
paines or penne, doe as it were send forth a pleasing savour
of sweet instructions, not only to that time wherein they
live, and are fresh, but being drye, withered and dead,
cease not in all after ages to doe as much or more."--JOHN
PARKINSON, _Paradisus_, 1629.
The last of the great English herbalists was John Parkinson, the
author of the famous _Paradisus_ and also of the largest herbal in the
English language, _Theatrum Botanicum_, which was published when the
author was seventy-three. The latter was intended to be a complete
account of medicinal plants and was the author's most important work,
yet it is with the _Paradisus_ (strictly not a herbal, but a gardening
book), that his name is popularly associated. Of Parkinson himself we
can learn very little. We know only that he was born in 1567, probably
in Nottinghamshire, and that before 1616 he was practising as an
apothecary and had a garden in Long Acre "well stored with
rarities."[88] He was appointed Apothecary to James I., and after the
publication of his _Paradisus_ in 1629 Charles I. bestowed on him the
title of Botanicus Regius Primarius. Amongst Parkinson's acquaintances
mentioned in his books were the learned Thomas Johnson, who in 1633
emended and brought out a new edition of Gerard's _Herball_, John
Tradescant,[89] the famous gardener, traveller and naturalist, and the
celebrated physician, Sir Theodore Mayerne. Parkinson died in 1650 and
was buried at St. Martin's in the Fields. There is a portrait of him
in his sixty-second year prefixed to his _Paradisus_, and a small
portrait by Marshall at the bottom of the title-page of his _Theatrum
Botanicum_.
The full title of Parkinson's _Paradisus_, which in the dedicatory
letter to Queen Henrietta Maria he truly describes as "this Speaking
Garden," is inscribed on a shield at the bottom of the frontispiece.
The first three words, "Paradisi in Sole," are a punning translation
into Latin of his own surname.
At the top of the page is the Eye of Providence with a Hebrew
inscription, and on each side a cherub symbolising the winds. In the
centre is a representation of Paradise with Adam grafting an apple
tree and Eve running downhill to pick up a pineapple. The flowers
depicted are curiously out of proportion, for the tulip flower is a
good deal larger than Eve's head, and cyclamen in Paradise seems to
have grown to a height of at least five feet.
The most interesting feature of this elaborately illustrated
title-page is the representation of the "Vegetable Lamb" growing on a
stalk and browsing on the herbage round about it.[90] This records one
of the most curious myths of the Middle Ages. The creature was also
known as the Scythian Lamb and the Borametz or Barometz, a name
derived from a Tartar word signifying "lamb." It was supposed to be at
once a true animal and a living plant, and was said to grow in the
territory of the "Tartars of the East," formerly called Scythia.
According to some writers, the lamb was the fruit of a tree, whose
fruit or seed-pod, when fully ripe, burst open and disclosed a little
lamb perfect in every way. This was the subject of the illustration,
"The Vegetable Lamb plant," in Sir John Mandeville's book. Other
writers described the lamb as being supported above the ground by a
stalk flexible enough to allow the animal to feed on the herbage
growing near. When it had consumed all within its reach the stem
withered and the lamb died. This is the version illustrated on
Parkinson's title-page. It was further reported that the lamb was a
favourite food of wolves, but that no other carnivorous animals would
attack it. This remarkable legend obtained credence for at least 400
years. So far as is known, the first mention of it in an English book
is the account given by Sir John Mandeville, "the Knyght of Ingelond
that was y bore in the toun of Seynt Albans, and travelide aboute in
the worlde in many diverse countries to se mervailes and customes of
countreis and diversiters of folkys and diverse shap of men and of
beistis." It is in the chapter describing the curiosities he met with
in the dominions of the "Cham" of Tartary that the passage about the
vegetable lamb occurs.[91] The origin of this extraordinary myth is
undoubtedly to be found in the ancient descriptions of the cotton
plant by Herodotus, Ctesias, Strabo, Pliny and others.[92] The
following passages in Herodotus and Pliny will suffice to show how
easily the myth may have grown. "Certain trees bear for their fruit
fleeces surpassing those of sheep in beauty and excellence"
(Herodotus). "These trees bear gourds the size of a quince which burst
when ripe and display balls of wool out of which the inhabitants make
cloths like valuable linen" (Pliny).
[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF PARKINSON'S "PARADISUS" (1629)]
In his _Theatrum Botanicum_ Parkinson describes the "Scythian Lamb,"
and one gathers that he accepted the travellers' tales about it. "This
strange living plant as it is reported by divers good authors groweth
among the Tartares about Samarkand and the parts thereabouts rising
from a seede somewhat bigger and rounder than a Melon seede with a
stalk about five palmes high without any leafe thereon but onely
bearing a certaine fruit and the toppe in forme resembling a small
lambe, whose coate or rinde is woolly like unto a Lambe's skinne, the
pulp or meat underneath, which is like the flesh of a Lobster, having
it is sayed blood also in it; it hath the forme of an head hanging
down and feeding on the grasse round about it untill it hath consumed
it and then dyeth or else will perish if the grasse round about it bee
cut away of purpose. It hath foure legges also hanging downe. The
wolves much affect to feed on them."
The preface to the _Paradisus_ is singularly beautiful, being typical
of the simple, devout-minded author, but it is too long to quote. The
book itself is truly "a speaking garden," a tranquil, spacious
Elizabethan garden, full of the loveliness, colour and scent of
damask, musk and many other roses; of lilies innumerable--the crown
imperial, the gold and red lilies, the Persian lily ("brought unto
Constantinople and from thence sent unto us by Mr. Nicholas Lete, a
worthy Merchant and a lover of all faire flowers"), the blush
Martagon, the bright red Martagon of Hungary and the lesser mountain
lily. Of fritillaries of every sort--of which Parkinson tells us that
"although divers learned men do by the name given unto this delightful
plant think it doth in some things partake with a Tulipe or Daffodill;
yet I, finding it most like unto a little Lilly, have (as you see
here) placed it next unto the Lillies and before them." Of gay tulips,
which were amongst his special favourites--"But indeed this flower,
above many other, deserveth his true commendations and acceptance with
all lovers of these beauties, both for the stately aspect and for the
admirable varietie of colour, that daily doe arise in them,"--and of
which he had a collection such as would be the glory of any
garden--the tulip of Caffa, the greater red Bolonia tulip, the tulip
of Candie, the tulip of Armenia, the Fool's Coat tulip, the Cloth of
Silver tulip and others too numerous to mention. ("They are all now
made denizens in our Gardens," he joyously tells us, "where they yield
us more delight and more increase for their proportion by reason of
their culture, than they did unto their owne naturals"). Of daffodils,
crocuses and hyacinths in boundless profusion, amongst which are to be
noted many pleasing names that we no longer use. Of asphodels, "which
doe grow naturally in Spaine and France and from thence were first
brought unto us to furnish our Gardens." Of many-coloured flags, which
he calls by the prettier name of "flower de luce," and amongst which
he gives pride of place "for his excellent beautie and raretie to the
great Turkie Flower de luce." Of gladioli, cyclamen and anemones. Of
the last-named he writes thus:--
"The Anemones likewise or Windeflowers are so full of variety and so
dainty so pleasant and so delightsome flowers that the sight of them
doth enforce an earnest longing desire in the mind of anyone to be a
possessoure of some of them at the leaste. For without all doubt this
one kind of flower, so variable in colours, so differing in form
(being almost as many sortes of them double as single), so plentifull
in bearing flowers and so durable in lasting and also so easie both to
preserve and to encrease is of itselfe alone almost sufficient to
furnish a garden with flowers for almost half the yeare. But to
describe the infinite (as I may so say) variety of the colours of the
flowers and to give each his true distinction and denomination it
passeth my ability I confesse, and I thinke would grauell the best
experienced in Europe." (Nevertheless he writes of about fifty
varieties.) Of fragrant crane's-bills, bear's-ears, primroses and
cowslips. Of violets, borage, marigolds, campions, snapdragons,
columbines and lark's-heels (delphiniums). Of gillyflowers (why have
we given up this old-fashioned English name?), and how pleasant is the
mere reading of his list of varieties--"Master Bradshawe his daintie
Ladie," "Ruffling Robin," "The Fragrant," "The Red Hulo," "John Witte
his great tawny gillow flower," "Lustie Gallant," "The fair maid of
Kent," "The Speckled Tawny." "But the most beautiful that ever I did
see was with Master Ralph Tuggie,[93] the which gilliflower I must
needes therefore call 'Master Tuggies Princesse,' which is the
greatest and fairest of all these sorts of variable tawnies, being as
large fully as the Prince or Chrystall, or something greater, standing
comely and round, not loose or shaken, or breaking the pod as some
other sorts will; the marking of the flower is in this manner: It is
of a stamell colour, striped and marbled with white stripes and veines
quite through every leafe, which are as deeply iagged as the Hulo:
sometimes it hath more red then white, and sometimes more white then
red, and sometimes so equally marked that you cannot discern which
hath the mastery; yet which of these hath the predominance, still the
flower is very beautifull and exceeding delightsome." Of peonies,
lupins, pinks, sea-holly and sweet-william. Of lilies of the valley,
gentian, Canterbury bells, hollyhocks and mallows ("which for their
bravery are entertained everywhere unto every countrey-woman's
garden"). Of foxgloves, goldilocks, valerian and mullein. Of
cuckoo-flowers, "or Ladies smockes," both the double and the trefoil.
The first kind, Parkinson tells us, "is found in divers places of our
owne Countrey as neere Micham about eight miles from London;" also in
Lancashire, "from whence I received a plant, which perished, but was
found by the industrie of a worthy Gentlewoman dwelling in those parts
called Mistresse Thomasin Tunstall, a great lover of these delights.
The other was sent me by my especiall good friend John Tradescant, who
brought it among other dainty plants from beyond the seas, and
imparted thereof a root to me." Of clematis and candytufts,
honeysuckles and jasmine. Of double-flowered cherries, apples and
peaches. "The beautiful shew of these three sorts of flowers," he
says, "hath made me to insert them into this garden, in that for their
worthinesse I am unwilling to bee without them, although the rest of
their kindes I have transferred into the Orchard, where among other
fruit trees they shall be remembered: for all these here set downe
seldome or never beare any fruite, and therefore more fit for a Garden
of flowers then an Orchard of fruite. These trees be very fit to be
set by Arbours."
In this garden of pleasant flowers we find also many fragrant herbs.
"After all these faire and sweete flowers," says Parkinson, "I must
adde a few sweete herbes, both to accomplish this Garden, and to
please your senses, by placing them in your Nosegayes, or elsewhere as
you list. And although I bring them in the end or last place, yet they
are not of the least account." He writes first of rosemary, the
common, the gilded, the broad-leaved and the double-flowered. Of
rosemary he tells us: "This common Rosemary is so well knowne through
all our Land, being in every woman's garden, that it were sufficient
but to name it as an ornament among other sweete herbes and flowers in
our Garden. It is well observed, as well in this our Land (where it
hath been planted in Noblemen's, and great men's gardens against brick
wals, and there continued long) as beyond the Seas, in the naturall
places where it groweth, that it riseth up in time unto a very great
height, with a great and woody stemme (of that compasse that--being
clouen out into thin boards--it hath served to make lutes, or such
like instruments, and here with us Carpenters rules, and to divers
other purposes), branching out into divers and sundry armes that
extend a great way, and from them againe into many other smaller
branches, whereon we see at several distances, at the ioynts, many
very narrow long leaves, greene above, and whitish underneath, among
which come forth towards the toppes of the stalkes, divers sweet
gaping flowers of a pale or bleake blewish colour, many set together
standing in whitish huskes ... although it will spring of the seede
reasonable well, yet it is so small and tender the first yeare, that a
sharpe winter killeth it quickly, unlesse it be very well defended;
the whole plant as well leaves as flowers, smelleth exceeding sweete."
Of sage and of lavender both the purple and the rare white[94] ("there
is a kinde hereof that beareth white flowers and somewhat broader
leaves, but it is very rare and seene but in few places with us,
because it is more tender, and will not so well endure our cold
Winters"). "Lavender," he says, "is almost wholly spent with us, for
to perfume linnen, apparell, gloues and leather and the dryed flowers
to comfort and dry up the moisture of a cold braine." Of French
lavender ("the whole plant is somewhat sweete, but nothing so much as
Lavender). It groweth in the Islands Staechades which are over against
Marselles and in Arabia also: we keep it with great care in our
Gardens. It flowreth the next yeare after it is sowne, in the end of
May, which is a moneth before any Lavender." Of lavender cotton, of
which he writes: "the whole plant is of a strong sweete sent, but not
unpleasant, and is planted in Gardens to border knots with, for which
it will abide to be cut into what forme you think best, for it groweth
thicke and bushy, very fit for such workes, besides the comely shew
the plant it selfe thus wrought doth yeeld, being alwayes greene and
of a sweet sent." Of basil, "wholly spent to make sweet or washing
waters, among other sweet herbes, yet sometimes it is put into
nosegayes. The Physicall properties are to procure a cheerfull and
merry heart"; and marjoram, "not onely much used to please the
outward senses in nosegayes and in the windowes of houses, as also in
sweete pouders, sweete bags, and sweete washing waters." Of all the
varieties of thyme and hyssop--and of the white hyssop he writes that
its striped leaves "make it delightfull to most Gentlewomen." Hyssop,
he tells us further, "is used of many people in the Country to be laid
unto cuts or fresh wounds, being bruised, and applyed eyther alone, or
with a little sugar." "And thus," he concludes this part of the book,
"have I led you through all my Garden of Pleasure, and shewed you all
the varieties of nature housed therein, pointing unto them and
describing them one after another. And now lastly (according to the
use of our old ancient Fathers) I bring you to rest on the Grasse,
which yet shall not be without some delight, and that not the least of
all the rest."
From his garden of pleasant flowers he leads us to the kitchen garden,
full not only of "vegetables" as we understand the term, of
strawberries, cucumbers and pompions, but also of a vast number of
herbs in daily use, many of them never seen in modern gardens. Besides
the familiar thyme, balm, savory, mint, marjoram, and parsley, there
are clary, costmary, pennyroyal, fennel, borage, bugloss, tansy,
burnet, blessed thistle, marigolds, arrach, rue, patience, angelica,
chives, sorrel, smallage, bloodwort, dill, chervil, succory, purslane,
tarragon, rocket, mustard, skirrets, rampion, liquorice and caraway.
But according to Parkinson they used fewer herbs in his day than in
olden times; for under pennyroyal we find, "The former age of our
great-grandfathers had all these pot herbes in much and familiar use,
both for their meates and medicines, and therewith preserved
themselves in long life and much health: but this delicate age of
ours, which is not pleased with anything almost, be it meat or
medicine, that is not pleasant to the palate, doth wholly refuse these
almost, and therefore cannot be partaker of the benefit of them." From
the kitchen garden with all these herbs, "of most necessary uses for
the Country Gentlewomen's houses," he leads us, finally, to the
orchard, with its endless varieties of apple and pear trees, of
cherries, medlars, plums, "apricockes" and nectarines, of figs and
peaches and almonds, of quinces, walnuts, mulberries and vines (ending
with the Virginian vine, of which he says, "we know of no use but to
furnish a Garden and to encrease the number of rarities"), until, like
the Queen of Sheba, we feel that, with all we have heard of the
comfortable splendour of Elizabeth's reign, the half has not been told
us. "And thus," Parkinson concludes, "have I finished this worke, and
furnished it with whatsoever Art and Nature concurring could effect to
bring delight to those that live in our Climate and take pleasure in
such things; which how well or ill done, I must abide every one's
censure; the iudicious and courteous I onely respect, let Momus bite
his lips and eate his heart; and so Farewell."
Parkinson's monumental work, _Theatrum Botanicum_, was completed, as
already mentioned, in his seventy-third year. In it about 3800 plants
are described (nearly double the number of those in the first edition
of Gerard's Herbal). In the _Theatrum_ he incorporated nearly the
whole of Bauhin's _Pinax_, besides part of the unfinished work by de
l'Obel mentioned before. The book remained the most complete English
treatise on plants until the time of Ray. Parkinson originally
intended to entitle it "A Garden of Simples"[95] and, had he done so,
it is at least possible that this work, to which he devoted the
greater part of his life, would have achieved the popularity it
deserved. Except in the illustrations, it is a finer book than
Gerard's, but the latter remained the more popular. In fact, this
herbal of Parkinson's is an outstanding proof that a good book may be
ruined by a bad title. _Theatrum Botanicum_ sounds hard and chilling,
whereas _Gerard's Herball_ has an attractive ring. The fact that the
former never attained the popularity achieved by the latter seems the
more pathetic when we read the author's own concluding charge to this
work of his lifetime:--"Goe forth now therefore thou issue artificial
of mine and supply the defect of a Naturall, to beare up thy Father's
name and memory to succeeding ages and what in thee lyeth effect more
good to thy Prince and Country then numerous of others, which often
prove rather plagues then profits thereto, and feare not the face of
thy fiercest foe."
The ornamental title-page of the _Theatrum Botanicum_ is both
interesting and impressive. The two most important figures are those
of Adam and Solomon (representing Toil and Wisdom respectively).
Solomon is dressed in a long coat with an ermine cape, and he wears
Roman sandals. At the four corners of the page are female
figures:--Europe driving majestically in a chariot with a pair of
horses; Asia clad in short skirts and shoes with curled points and
riding a rhinoceros; Africa wearing only a hat, and mounted upon a
zebra; and America, also unclothed, carrying a bow and arrow and
riding a sheep with surprisingly long ears. Each of these figures is
surrounded by specimens of the vegetation of their respective
continents.
It is curious to find in the dedicatory letter to Charles I. a touch
of the old belief that diseases are due to evil spirits:--
"And I doubt not of your Majesties further care of their
bodies health that such Workes as deliver approved Remedyes
may be divulged whereby they may both cure and prevent their
diseases. Most properly therefore doth this Worke belong to
your Majesty's patronage both to further and defend that
malevolent spirits should not dare to cast forth their
venome or aspertions to the prejudice of any well-deserving,
but that thereby under God and Good direction, all may live
in health as well as wealth, peace and godliness, which God
grant and that this boldnesse may be pardoned to
"Your Majestyes
"Loyale Subject
"Servant and Herbarist
"JOHN PARKINSON."
[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF PARKINSON'S "THEATRUM BOTANICUM"
(1640)]
There are letters extolling the Herbal from three Oxford doctors, two
of whom refer to the then newly-made physic garden on the Cherwell.
One writes thus: "Oxford and England are happy in the foundation of a
spacious illustrious physicke garden, compleately beautifully walled
and gated, now in levelling and planting with the charges and expences
of thousands by the many wayes Honourable Earle of Danby, the
furnishing and enriching whereof and of many a glorious Tempe, with
all usefull and delightfull plants will be the better expedited by
your painefull happy satisfying Worke.
"Tho. Clayton, His Majesty's prof. of Physicke, Oxon."
* * * * *
One who signs himself "Your affectionate friend John Bainbridge Doctor
of Physique, and Professor of Astronomy, Oxon" writes thus: "I am a
stranger to your selfe but not to your learned and elaborate volumnes.
I have with delight and admiration surveyed your _Theatrum Botanicum_,
a stately Fabrique, collected and composed with excessive paines....
It is a curious pourtrait and description of th' Earths flowred
mantle, the Herbarist's Oracle, a rich Magazin of soveraigne
Medicines, physicall experiments and other rarities."
Parkinson divides his plants into "Classes or Tribes":--
1. Sweete smelling Plants.
2. Purging Plants.
3. Venemous Sleepy and Hurtfull plants and their Counter poysons.
4. Saxifrages.
5. Vulnerary or Wound Herbs.
6. Cooling and Succory like Herbs.
7. Hot and sharpe biting Plants.
8. Umbelliferous Plants.
9. Thistles and Thorny Plants.
10. Fearnes and Capillary Herbes.
11. Pulses.
12. Cornes.
13. Grasses Rushes and Reeds.
14. Marsh Water and Sea plants and Mosses and Mushromes.
15. The Unordered Tribe.
16. Trees and Shrubbes.
17. Strange and Outlandish Plants.
Under "The Unordered Tribe" we find the naïve remark: "In this tribe
as in a gathering campe I must take up all those straglers that have
either lost their rankes or were not placed in some of the foregoing
orders that so I may preserve them from losse and apply them to some
convenient service for the worke"!
It is surprising how much folk lore survives even in Parkinson's
Herbal. Like Gerard, he pours scorn on a good many contemporary
beliefs, but many he accepts unquestioningly, especially those
concerning the use of herbs as amulets and also for the promotion of
happiness. He gives also some old gardening beliefs not to be found in
other herbals, but very common in contemporary books on gardening and
husbandry, and more bee lore than most herbals contain. Nearly all the
old herbalists believed in the value of growing balm near the
beehives, and also of rubbing the hive with this herb, but Parkinson
alone tells us of the harmful effects of woad:[96] "Some have sowen it
but they have founde it to be the cause of the Destruction of their
Bees, for it hath been observed that they have dyed as it were of a
Flix that have tasted hereof." Of balm,[97] however, he writes: "it is
an hearbe wherein Bees do much delight both to have their Hives rubbed
therewith to keepe them together and draw others and for them to suck
and feed upon." Elsewhere he tells us that "it hath been observed that
bees will hardly thrive well where many Elmes doe grow or at least if
they upon their first going forth abroad after Winter doe light on the
bloomings or seed thereof."[98] Of the sweet-smelling flag he says:
"it is verily believed of many that the leaves or roots of Acorus
tyed to a hive of Bees stayeth them from wandering or flying away and
draweth a greater resort of others thereto."[99]
Upon the use of herbs as amulets his views seem inconsistent. He is
scornful of the custom of hanging a piece of mistletoe to children's
necks "against witchcraft and the illusion of Sathan"; yet he gravely
informs us that "if the sope that is made of the lye of the ashes [of
glassewort] be spread upon a piece of thicke course brown paper cut
into the forme of their shooe sole, that are casually taken speechless
and bound to the soles of their feete it will bring again the speech
and that within a little time after the applying thereof if there be
any hope of being restored while they live: this hath been tried to be
effectuall upon diverse persons."[100] The custom of wearing
meadowsweet or hanging it up in living-rooms[101] he describes as a
"superstitious conceit," but he accepts without demur the
tradition[102] that a wreath of periwinkle "worne about the legs
defendeth them that wear it from the crampe." Bartholomæus Anglicus
tells us that Augustus Cæsar used to wear a wreath of bryony during a
thunderstorm to protect himself from lightning, but the story is not
repeated until, after the lapse of four hundred years, we find in
Parkinson the statement that "Augustus Cæsar was wont to weare bryony
with bayes made into a roule or garlande thereby to be secured from
lightening."[103] Parkinson regards the use of herbs against
witchcraft as sheer foolishness, but he is the only herbalist who
gives us a potion[104] which "resisteth such charmes or the like
witchery that is used in such drinkes that are given to produce love."
Like Gerard, he does not question the efficacy of borage, bugloss and
many other herbs to promote happiness. Of borage[105] he tells us:
"The leaves floures and seedes are very cordiall and helpe to expell
pensivenesse and melancholie that ariseth without manifest cause"; and
of a confection made from oak galls,[106] that it is "dayly commended
and used with good effect against Melancholy passions and sorrow
proceeding of no evident cause." Water yarrow "is taken with vinegar
to helpe casuall sighings also the Toothache."[107] Under
viper's-grass[108] we find "the water distilled in glasses or the
roote itself taken is good against the passions and tremblings of the
heart as also against swoonings sadnes and melancholy," and under
bugloss,[109] that "the rootes or seedes are effectuall to comfort the
heart and to expell sadnesse and causelesse melancholy." In common
with other herbalists he believed also that herbs could be used to
strengthen the memory, to help weak brains, to quicken the senses and
even to soothe "frenzied" people. Of eyebright,[110] used for so many
centuries, and even until recent times, to help dull sight, he says:
"it helpeth a weake braine or memory and restoreth them being decayed
in a short time." Fleabane "bound to the forehead is a great helpe to
cure one of the frensie," while "the distilled water of thyme applyed
with vinegar of Roses to the forehead easeth the rage of
Frensye."[111] Lavender is of "especiall good use for all griefes and
paines of the head and brain,"[112] and sage[113] is of "excellent
good use to helpe the memory by warming and quickening the senses."
Parkinson gives more beauty recipes than any other herbalist. For
those who wish to darken their hair he recommends washing it with a
decoction of bramble leaves.[114] The golden flowers of mullein[115]
"boyled in lye dyeth the haires of the head yellow and maketh them
faire and smooth." The ashes of southernwood[116] mixed with old salad
oil will cause a beard to grow or hair on a bald head, and yarrow is
almost as good; garden spurge, elder flowers, broom, madder, rue,
gentian, scabious, betony, elecampane, Solomon's Seal, the great
hawkweed and lupin are all excellent to "cleanse the skinne from
freckles, sunburn and wrinkles."[117] The French women "account the
distilled water of pimpernell mervailous good to clense the skinne
from any roughnesse deformity or discolouring thereof and to make it
smooth neate and cleere."[118] The Italian dames, however, "doe much
use the distilled water of the whole plant of Solomon's Seal."[119]
Lupin seems to have the most remarkable virtue, for not only will it
take away all smallpox marks, but it will also make the user "look
more amiable"! Many women, therefore, "doe use the meale of Lupines
mingled with the gall of a goate and some juyce of Lemons to make into
a forme of a soft ointment."[120] Parkinson is the only herbalist who
gives recipes to enable people to get thin and also to look pale. "The
powder of the seedes of elder[121] first prepared in vinegar and then
taken in wine halfe a dramme at a time for certaine dayes together is
a meane to abate and consume the fat flesh of a corpulent body and to
keepe it leane." For those who like to look pale he recommends cumin
seed and bishopsweed.[122] And "for a sweet powder[123] to lay among
linnen and garments and to make sweet waters to wash hand-gloves or
other things to perfume them" he recommends the roots of the
sweet-smelling flag.
It is, however, the curious out-of-the-way pieces of information on all
sorts of matters which are so interesting in Parkinson's Herbal. He
tells us that three several sorts of colours are made from the berries
of the purging thorn; that the yellow dye is used by painters, "and
also by Bookbinders to colour the edges of Bookes and by leather
dressers to colour leather"; that the green dye is "usually put up into
great bladders tyed with strong thred at the head and hung up untill
it is drye, which is dissolved in water or wine, but sacke is the best
to preserve the colour from 'starving,' as they call it, that is from
decaying, and to make it hold fresh the longer"; and that the purple
dye is made by leaving the berries on the bushes until the end of
November, when they are ready to drop off. That the best mushrooms grow
under oaks or fir trees. That spurry leaves bruised and laid to a cut
finger will speedily heal it, "whereof the Country people in divers
places say they have had good experience," and that it is also good for
causing "the Kine to give more store of milke than ordinary otherwise,
so it causeth Pullaine likewise to lay more store of egges." That the
fruit of the bead tree "being drilled and drawne on stringes serves
people beyond sea to number their prayers thereon least they forget
themselves and give God too many." That in Warwickshire the female fern
was always used "in steed of Sope to wash their clothes," and that it
was gathered about Midsummer, "unto good big balls which when they will
use them they burne them in the fire until it becomes blewish, which
being then layd by will dissolve into powder of itselfe, like unto
Lime: foure of these balles being dissolved in warme water is
sufficient to wash a whole bucke full of clothes." That the burning of
lupin seeds drives away gnats, and that half-sodden barley "given to
Hennes that hardly or seldome lay egges will cause them to lay both
greater and more often." That country housewives use that common weed
horsetail to scour their wooden, pewter and brass vessels, and
sometimes boil the young tops of the same weed and eat them like
asparagus. That bramble leaves do not fall until all the sharp frosts
are over, "whereby the country men do observe that the extremity of
Winter is past when they fall off." That every year sacks full of
violets are sent from Marseilles to Alexandria and other parts of
Egypt, "where they use them boyled in water which only by their
religion they are enjoined to drinke." That if you suspect your wine is
watered "you shall put some thereof into a cup that is made of ivie
wood and if there be any water therein it will remaine in the cup and
the wine will soak through, for the nature of Ivie is not to hold any
wine so great an antipathy there is between them." That skilful
shepherds are careful not to let their flocks feed in pastures where
mouseare abounds, "lest they grow sicke and leane and die quickly
after." That writing-ink can be made of the green fruit of alder trees.
That the bark of the same tree is useful for making "a blacke dye for
the courser sorts of things," and that the leaves put under the bare
feet of travellers are "a great refreshing unto them." That the rose of
Jericho opened the night our Saviour was born, and that placed in any
house it will open when a child is born. That mouseare if given to any
horse "will cause that he shall not be hurt by the Smith that shooeth
him." That purslane is not only a sovereign remedy for crick in the
neck, but also for "blastings by lightening, or planets and for
burnings by Gunpowder or otherwise." That country folk in Kent and
Sussex call sopewort "Gill-run-by-the-streete." That agrimony leaves
will cure cattle suffering from coughs, and that wounded deer use this
same herb to heal their hurts. That a decoction made of hemp will draw
earthworms out of their holes and that fishermen thus obtain their
bait. That crops of woad may be cut three times in the year, and that
dyers' weed will change to green any cloth or silk first dyed blue with
woad, "and for these uses there is great store of this herbe spent in
all countries and thereof many fields are sowen for the purpose." That
country-folk use goose-grass as a strainer "to clear their milke from
strawes, haires, and any other thing that falleth into it." That St.
John's wort is used by country-folk to drive away devils. That "Clownes
woundwort" owes its name to a labourer who healed himself therewith of
a cut with a scythe in his leg. That willow-herb, being burned,
"driveth away flies and gnats and other such like small creatures which
use in diverse places that are neere to Fennes, marsh or water sides to
infest them that dwell there in the night season to sting and bite
them, leaving the marks and spots thereof in their faces which beside
the deformity, which is but for a while, leaveth them that are thus
bitten not without paine for a time." That from turnesole
(heliotropium) are made "those ragges of cloth which are usually called
Turnesole in the Druggists and Grocers shoppes and with all other
people and serveth to colour jellies or other things as every one
please." That when French ladies coloured their faces with an ointment
containing anchusa the colour did not last long. That no "good
gentlewoman in the land that would do good" should be without a store
of bugloss ointment either for her own family "or other her poor
neighbours that want helpe and means to procure it," and that beyond
the sea in France and Germany it is a common proverb "that they neede
neither Physition to cure their inward diseases nor Chirurgion to helpe
them of any wound or sore that have this Bugle and Sanicle at hand by
them to use." That this is equally true of the herb self-heale. That
country-folk use sanicle to anoint their hands "when they are chapt by
the winde." That goat's rue is good for fattening hens. That Herbe True
love taken every day for twenty days will help those "that by
witchcraft (as it is thought) have become half foolish to become
perfectly restored to their former good estate." That the best starch
is made from the root of cuckoo-pint, and that in former dayes when the
making of our ordinary starch "was not knowen or frequent in use; the
finest Dames used the rootes hereof to starch their linnen, which would
so sting, exasperate and choppe the skinne of their servants' hands
that used it, that they could scarce get them smooth and whole with all
the nointing they could doe before they should use it againe." That the
root of this same herb, cut small and mixed with a sallet of white
endive or lettice, is "an excellent dish to entertain a smell-feast or
unbidden unwelcome guest to a man's table, to make sport with him and
drive him from his too much boldnesse; or the pouder of the dried roote
strawed upon any daintie bit of meate that may be given him to eate;
for either way within a while after the taking of it, it will so
burne and pricke his mouthe that he shall not be able either to eate a
bit more or scarce to speak for paine and so will abide untill there be
some new milk or fresh butter given, which by little and little will
take away the heate and pricking and restore him againe." That another
"good jest for a bold unwelcome guest" is to infuse nightshade in a
little wine for six or seven hours and serve it to the guest, who then
"shall not be able to eat any meate for that meale nor untill he drinks
some vinegar which will presently dispell that qualitie and cause him
to fall to his viands with as good a stomach as he had before." That
sufferers from toothache should rub the bruised root of crowfoote on to
their fingers; by causing "more paine therein than is felt by the
toothach it taketh away the pain." That the juice of fumitory, if
dropped in the eyes, will take away the redness and other defects,
"although it procure some paine for the present and bringeth forth
teares." That the hunters and shepherds of Austria commend the roots of
the supposed wolf's-bane "against the swimming or turning in the head
which is a disease subject to those places rising from the feare and
horroure of such steepe downfalls and dangerous places which they doe
and must continually passe." That scabious, if bruised and applied "to
any place wherein any splinter, broken bone, or any such like thing
lyeth in the flesh doth in short time loosen it and causeth it to be
easily drawen forth." That butcher's broom was used in olden times to
preserve "hanged meate" from being eaten by mice and also for the
making of brooms, "but the King's Chamber is by revolution of time
turned to the Butcher's stall, for that a bundle of the stalkes tied
together serveth them to cleanse their stalls and from thence have we
our English name of Butcher's broom." That the down of swallow-wort
"doth make a farre softer stuffing for cushions or pillowes or the like
than Thistle downe which is much used in some places for the like
purpose." That, if ivory is boiled with mandrake root for six hours,
the ivory will become so soft "that it will take what form or
impression you will give it." That fresh elder flowers, hung in a
vessel of new wine and pressed every evening for seven nights together,
"giveth to the wine a very good relish and a smell like Muscadine."
That the moth mullein is of no use except that it will attract moths
wherever it is laid. That if pennyroyal is put into "unwholesome and
stinking waters that men must drinke (as at sea in long voyages) it
maketh them the less hurtful." And to conclude, it is from Parkinson we
learn that "Queen Elizabeth of famous memorie did more desire
medowsweet then any other sweete herbe to strewe her chambers withall."
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF JOHN PARKINSON FROM THE TITLE-PAGE OF
THE "PARADISUS" (1629)]
FOOTNOTES:
[88] See _Theatrum Botanicum_, p. 609.
[89] Both John Tradescant and his son were gardeners to Charles I. and
Henrietta Maria. John Tradescant the elder is said by Anthony à Wood
to have been a Fleming or a Dutchman, but this is doubtful. The name
is neither Flemish nor Dutch but probably English, and in the
inscription on his tomb in Lambeth Churchyard he and his son are
described as "both gardeners to the rose and lily queen." This was
Henrietta Maria. Parkinson in his _Paradisus_ speaks of him as "that
painfull industrious searcher and lover of all nature's varieties."
Tradescant accompanied Sir Dudley Digges on his voyage round the North
Cape to Archangel, and on his return wrote an account of the plants he
had found in Russia--the earliest extant record of plants in that
part. It is interesting to note that in this he compares the soil of
Russia to that of Norfolk. In 1620 Tradescant joined an expedition
against the Algerine corsairs as a gentleman volunteer, and he also
accompanied the Duke of Buckingham (George Villiers), to whom he had
formerly been gardener, on the ill-fated expedition to La Rochelle. On
Buckingham's death he entered the royal service, and probably at this
time established his well-known physic garden and museum at Lambeth.
The house was called Tradescant's ark. There are three unsigned and
undated portraits of the elder Tradescant in the Ashmolean Collection
at Oxford.
[90] It also figures on the title-page of Parkinson's _Theatrum
Botanicum_.
[91] "Now schalle I seye you semyingly of Countries and Yles that bea
beyonde the Countries that I have spoken of. Wherefore I seye you in
pessynge be [by] the Lord of Cathaye toward the high Ynde and towards
Bacharye, men passen be a Kyngdom that men clepen Caldhille, that is a
fair contree. And there growethe a maner of Fruyt, as though it weren
Gowrdes, and when thei ben rype men kutten hem ato, and men fynden
with inne a lytylle Best, in Flesche, in Bon and Blode, as though it
were a lytylle Lamb withouten wolle. And men eten both the Frut and
the Best, and that is a great Marveylle. Of that Frute I have eaten,
alle thoghe it were wonderfulle but that I knowe wel that God is
marveyllous in his Werkes."
[92] See Herodotus (lib. iii. cap. 106); Ctesias (_Indica_); Strabo
(lib. xv. cap. 21); Theophrastus _De Historia Plantarum_ (lib. iv.
cap. 4); Pliny, _Naturalis Historia_.
[93] "Master Tuggie," who lived in Westminster, was a famous grower of
gilliflowers. See p. 116.
[94] White lavender was a favourite with Queen Henrietta Maria.
[95] This he tells us at the end of the preface to the _Paradisus_.
"Thus have I shewed you both the occasion and scope of this Worke, and
herein have spent my time, paines, and charge, which if well accepted,
I shall thinke well employed, and may the sooner hasten the fourth
Part, A Garden of Simples; which will be quiet no longer at home, then
that it can bring his Master newes of faire weather for the iourney."
[96] _Theatrum Botanicum_, p. 601.
[97] _Ibid._, p. 43.
[98] _Ibid._, p. 1405.
[99] _Theatrum Botanicum_, p. 144.
[100] _Ibid._, p. 281.
[101] _Ibid._, p. 265.
[102] _Ibid._, p. 384.
[103] _Ibid._, p. 181.
[104] _Ibid._, p. 422. Of this "Indian Spanish Counter poyson"
Parkinson gives us the further interesting information that "the
Indians doe not eate the bodies of those they have slaine by their
poysoned arrowes untill they have lyen three or foure dayes with their
wounds washed with the juice of this herbe; which rendereth them
tender and fit to be eaten which before were hard."
[105] _Theatrum Botanicum_, p. 767.
[106] _Ibid._, p. 1397.
[107] _Ibid._, p. 1259.
[108] _Ibid._, p. 410.
[109] _Ibid._, p. 518.
[110] _Ibid._, p. 1330.
[111] _Ibid._, p. 128.
[112] _Ibid._, p. 74.
[113] _Ibid._, p. 54.
[114] _Ibid._, p. 1016.
[115] _Ibid._, p. 63.
[116] _Ibid._, p. 95.
[117] _Theatrum Botanicum_, pp. 135, 191, 210, 233, 275, 408, 492,
613, 652, 693, 700, 790, 1075.
[118] _Ibid._, p. 559.
[119] _Ibid._, p. 700.
[120] _Ibid._, p. 1075.
[121] _Ibid._, p. 210.
[122] _Ibid._, pp. 888 and 913.
[123] _Ibid._, p. 144.