Part 28 (1/2)

”Happy man that Christ was born, He was crowned with a thorn; He was pierced through the skin, For to let the poison in.

But His five wounds, so they say, Closed before He pa.s.sed away.

In with healing, out with thorn, Happy man that Christ was born.”

Another version used in the North of England is this:--

”Unto the Virgin Mary our Saviour was horn, And on his head he wore a crown of thorn; If you believe this true, and mind it well, This hurt will never fester nor swell.”

The _Angelica sylvestris_ was popularly known as ”Holy Ghost,” from the angel-like properties therein having been considered good ”against poisons, pestilent agues, or the pestilence.”

c.o.c.kayne, in his ”Saxon Leechdoms,” mentions an old poem descriptive of the virtues of the mugwort:--

”Thou hast might for three, And against thirty, For venom availest For plying vile things.”

So, too, certain plants of the saints acquired a notoriety for specific virtues; and hence St. John's wort, with its leaves marked with blood-like spots, which appear, according to tradition, on the anniversary of his decollation, is still ”the wonderful herb” that cures all sorts of wounds. Herb-bennet, popularly designated ”Star of the earth,” a name applied to the avens, hemlock, and valerian, should properly be, says Dr. Prior, ”St. Benedict's herb, a name a.s.signed to such plants as were supposed to be antidotes, in allusion to a legend of this saint, which represents that upon his blessing a cup of poisoned wine which a monk had given to destroy him, the gla.s.s was s.h.i.+vered to pieces.” In the same way, herb-gerard was called from St. Gerard, who was formerly invoked against gout, a complaint for which this plant was once in high repute. St. James's wort was so called from its being used for the diseases of horses, of which this great pilgrim-saint was the patron. It is curious in how many unexpected ways these odd items of folk-lore in their a.s.sociation with the saints meet us, showing that in numerous instances it is entirely their a.s.sociation with certain saints that has made them of medical repute.

Some trees and plants have gained a medical notoriety from the fact of their having a mystical history, and from the supernatural qualities ascribed to them. But, as Bulwer-Lytton has suggested in his ”Strange Story,” the wood of certain trees to which magical properties are ascribed may in truth possess virtues little understood, and deserving of careful investigation. Thus, among these, the rowan would take its place, as would the common hazel, from which the miner's divining-rod is always cut. [9] An old-fas.h.i.+oned charm to cure the bite of an adder was to lay a cross formed of two pieces of hazel-wood on the ground, repeating three times this formula [10]:--

”Underneath this hazelin mote, There's a braggotty worm with a speckled throat, Nine double is he; Now from nine double to eight double And from eight double to seven double-ell.”

The mystical history of the apple accounts for its popularity as a medical agent, although, of course, we must not attribute all the lingering rustic cures to this source. Thus, according to an old Devons.h.i.+re rhyme,

”Eat an apple going to bed, Make the doctor beg his bread.”

Its juice has long been deemed potent against warts, and a Lincolns.h.i.+re cure for eyes affected by rheumatism or weakness is a poultice made of rotten apples.

The oak, long famous for its supernatural strength and power, has been much employed in folk-medicine. A German cure for ague is to walk round an oak and say:--

”Good evening, thou good one old; I bring thee the warm and the cold.”

Similarly, in our own country, oak-trees planted at the junction of cross-roads were much resorted to by persons suffering from ague, for the purpose of transferring to them their complaint, [11] and elsewhere allusion has already been made to the practice of curing sickly children by pa.s.sing through a split piece of oak. A German remedy for gout is to take hold of an oak, or of a young shoot already felled, and to repeat these words:--

”Oak-shoot, I to thee complain, All the torturing gout plagues me; I cannot go for it, Thou canst stand it.

The first bird that flies above thee, To him give it in his flight, Let him take it with him in the air.”

Another plant, which from its mystic character has been used for various complaints, is the elder. In Bohemia, three spoonsful of the water which has been used to bathe an invalid are poured under an elder-tree; and a Danish cure for toothache consists in placing an elder-twig in the mouth, and then sticking it in a wall, saying, ”Depart, thou evil spirit.” The mysterious origin and surroundings of the mistletoe have invested it with a widespread importance in old folk-lore remedies, many of which are, even now-a-days, firmly credited; a reputation, too, bestowed upon it by the Druids, who styled it ”all-heal,” as being an antidote for all diseases. Culpepper speaks of it as ”good for the grief of the sinew, itch, sores, and toothache, the biting of mad dogs and venomous beasts;” while Sir Thomas Browne alludes to its virtues in cases of epilepsy. In France, amulets formed of mistletoe were much worn; and in Sweden, a finger-ring made of its wood is an antidote against sickness. The mandrake, as a mystic plant, was extensively sold for medicinal purposes, and in Kent may be occasionally found kept to cure barrenness; [12] and it may be remembered that La Fontaine's fable, _La Mandragore_, turns upon its supposed power of producing children.

How potent its effects were formerly held may be gathered from the very many allusions to its mystic properties in the literature of bygone years. Columella, in his well-known lines, says:--

”Whose roots show half a man, whose juice With madness strikes.”

Shakespeare speaks of it as an opiate, and on the Continent it was much used for amulets.

Again, certain plants seem to have been specially in high repute in olden times from the marvellous influence they were credited with exercising over the human frame; consequently they were much valued by both old and young; for who would not retain the vigour of his youth, and what woman would not desire to preserve the freshness of her beauty?

One of the special virtues of rosemary, for instance, was its ability to make old folks young again. A story is told of a gouty and crooked old queen, who sighed with longing regret to think that her young dancing-days were gone, so:--

”Of rosmaryn she took six pownde, And grounde it well in a stownde,”

And then mixed it with water, in which she bathed three times a day, taking care to anoint her head with ”G.o.de balm” afterwards. In a very short time her old flesh fell away, and she became so young, tender, and fresh, that she began to look out for a husband. [13]

The common fennel (_Foeniculum vulgare_) was supposed to give strength to the const.i.tution, and was regarded as highly restorative. Longfellow, in his ”Goblet of Life,” apparently alludes to our fennel:--

”Above the lowly plant it towers, The fennel, with its yellow flowers; And in an earlier age than ours Was gifted with the wondrous powers Lost vision to restore.