_Saffron, when brought into England._--In a footnote to Beckmann's _History
of Inventions, &c._, vol. i. p. 179. (Bohn's), is the following, purporting
to be from Hakluyt, vol. ii. p. 164.:
"It is reported at Saffron Walden that a pilgrim, proposing to do good
to his country, stole a head of saffron, and hid the same in his
palmer's staff, which he had made hollow before on purpose, and so he
brought this root into this realm, with venture of his life; for if he
had been taken, by the law of the country from whence it came, he had
died for the fact."
Can any of your readers throw any light upon this tradition?