To those unnumbered sort of simples here that grew,
What justly to set down even Dodon short doth fall,
Nor skilful Gerarde yet shall ever find them all.”
CHAPTER XIV.
Plants and the Planets.
Two centuries ago there existed a very general belief that every plant was under the direct influence of a particular Planet, and therefore that all the details connected with its cultivation and utilisation were to be conducted with a strict regard to this supposition. Aubrey has recorded his opinion, that if a plant “be not gathered according to the rules of astrology, it hath little or no virtue in it;” and the Jesuit Rapin, in his Latin poem on ‘Gardens,’ says, with respect to flowers—
“This frequent charge I give, whene’er you sow
The flow’ry kind, be studious first to know