[E209] "Marigolds are hote and drye, an herbe well knowen and as vsual in the kitchin as in the hal: the nature whereof is to open at the Sunne rising, and to close vp at the Sunne setting. It hath one good propertie and very profitable for Students, that is by the vse thereof the sight is sharpened. And againe the water distilled of Marigolds when it flowreth, doth help the rednesse and inflammation of the eyes if it be dropped into them, or if a linnen cloth wet in the water be laid upon them. Also the powder of Marigolds dried, being put into the hollownesse of the teeth, easeth toothach. And the juice of the herbe mingled with a little salt, and rubbed often times vpon Warts, at length weareth them away."—Cogan's Haven of Health, ch. 63. Called in the Grete Herbal Mary Gowles, a name that seems to have originated in the A.S. mersc-mear-gealla = marsh-horse-gowl, the marsh marigold, or caltha, transferred to the exotic plant of our gardens and misunderstood as Mary Gold. It is often mentioned as Gold simply by our older poets:
"That she sprunge up out of the molde
Into a floure was named golde."
—Gower, ed. 1554, f. 120.
"The yellow marigold, the sunne's own flower," says Heywood in Marriage Triumphe, and "so called," says Hyll (Art of Gard. ch. xxx.), "for that after the rising of the sun unto noon, this flower openeth larger and larger; but after the noontime unto the setting of the sun the flower closeth more and more, so that after the setting thereof it is wholly shut up."
"The marigold observes the sun,
More than my subjects me have done."
—K. Charles I.
[E210] "Mercurie." A name rather vaguely applied in old works, probably the "Good Henry, Chenopodium Bonus Henricus." Called also "Allgood," Dutch algoede, Ger. allgut, from Lat. tota bona, Cotgrave and Palsgrave toutte bonne, on account of its excellent qualities as a remedy and as an esculent; hence the proverb: "Be thou sick or whole, put Mercury in thy koale."—Cogan, Haven of Health, ch. 28. "The Barons Mercury, or male Phyllon dronken, causeth to engender male children, and the Mayden Mercurie, or gyrles Phyllon dronken, causeth to engender Gyrles or Daughters."—Lyte's Dodoens, p. 78.
It is still much grown in some districts, as in Lincolnshire (where it is called "Marquerry"), being boiled and eaten as spinach.—Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E211] "Nep," common Cat-mint. "Dronken with honied water is good for them that haue fallen from a lofte, and haue some bruse or squat, and bursting, for it digesteth the congeled and clotted bloud, and is good for the payne of the bowels, the shortnesse of breath, the oppillation or stopping of the breast, and against the Jaundice."—Lyte, p. 148. See also Gerard's Herbal, 1633. "Nepe, herbe, Coloquintida, cucurbita."—Prompt. Parv. "Neppe, an herbe, herbe du chat."—Palsgrave. Forby gives the Norfolk simile "as white as nep," in allusion to the white down which covers this plant.
The plant referred to in the quotation from the Prompt. Parv. is not that meant by Tusser.—Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E212] "Orach," Atriplex hortensis, or sativa, formerly Arach, Prompt. Parv. Arage, in MS. Harl. 979 Arasches, Fr. arroche, from Low Lat. aurago from aurum = gold, by the addition to it of ago = wort, as in plantago, lappago, etc. At the same time its use in the cure of jaundice, aurugo, may have fixed upon the plant the name of the disease.
"Atriplicem tritam cum nitro, melle, et aceto,
Dicunt appositam calidam sedare podagram:
Ictericis dicitque Galenus tollere morbum
Illius semen cum vino sæpius haustum."
—Macer, cap. xxviii. l. 7, quoted by Dr. Prior.