Nifles, trifles, that litelle have availede,
And thynges wyth which they fetely blere oure eye,
Wyth thynges not enduryng that we bye.
[l. 123.] Turnsole. Newton’s Herbal, plate 49, gives Yellow Turnsole G(erarde), the Colouring Turnsole P(arkinson).
[l. 123.] Tornesole. Achillea tormentosa, A.S. Solwherf. ‘This wort hath with it some wonderful divine qualities, that is, that its blossoms turn themselves according to the course of the sun, so that the blossoms when the sun is setting close themselves, and again when he upgoeth, they open and spread themselves.’ Leechdoms, ed. Cockayne, v. 1, p. 155.
[l. 123], [141.] Granes are probably what are now called “Granes of Paradise,” small pungent seeds brought from the East Indies, much resembling Cardamum seeds in appearance, but in properties approaching nearer to Pepper. See Lewis’s Materia Medica, p. 298; in North. H. Book.
[l. 131-2.] I cannot identify these three sorts of Ginger, though Gerarde says: “Ginger groweth in Spaine, Barbary, in the Canary Islands, and the Azores,” p. 6. Only two sorts of Ginger are mentioned in Parkinson’s Herbal, p. 1613. ‘Ginger grows in China, and is cultivated there.’ Strother’s Harman, 1727, v. 1, p. 101.
[l. 141.] Peper. “Pepir blake” is one of the commoditees of the Januays (or Genoese). Libelle, p. 172.
[Note on line 77] was originally printed here, labeled “[l. 177]”.
[l. 178.] Ale. See the praise of the unparalleled liquor called Ale, Metheglin, &c., in Iohn Taylor’s Drink and Welcome, 1637. In his Regiment, A. Borde says, “Ale is made of malte and water; and they the whiche do put any other thynge to ale than is rehersed, except yest, barme, or goddes good,*† doth sophysticall there ale. Ale for an Englysshe man is a naturall drynke. Ale muste haue these properties, it must be fresshe and cleare, it muste not be ropy, nor smoky, nor it muste haue no werte nor tayle. Ale shulde not be dronke under .v. dayes olde. Newe Ale is vnholsome for all men. And sowre ale, and dead ale, and ale the whiche doth stande a tylte, is good for no man. Barly malte maketh better Ale than Oten malte or any other corne doth: it doth ingendre grose humours: but it maketh a man stronge.