THE seventeenth book of the 'De Proprietatibus' deals with the properties of plants. The sources from which Bartholomew derives his information are Aristotle and Atbertus Magnus' gloss on his 'De Vegetalibus,' Albumazar, Pliny, Isaac on Foods, Hugo, and the Platearius. The text professes to deal with those trees and plants alone which are mentioned in the gloss, but many others are incidentally mentioned, and we are thus enabled to learn the chief food-stuffs of our ancestors. The cereals of the time are wheat, barley, oats, and rye, just as at present; but the dinner-table of the day had neither turnip, cabbage, nor potato, and supplied their place with the parsnip, cole, and rape. Garlic, radishes, and lettuce were widely used, the former being valued chiefly for its power of overcoming any other odour. Flax seems to have been widely grown, and rushlights were then a luxury.
The subject of trees and plants does not so readily lend itself to
fables as some other parts of natural history, but we refer the reader
to the accounts of aloes, pepper, and mandragora as a specimen of the tales
told, as our author says, 'to make things dear, and of great price.'
OF ALOES,
ALOES is a tree with good savour, and breedeth in India, and sometime a part thereof is set afire upon the altar in the stead of incense. It is found in the great river of Babylon, that joineth with a river of Paradise. Therefore many men trow that the foresaid tree groweth among the trees of Paradise, and cometh out of Paradise by some hap or drift into [the] river of Ind. Men that dwell by that river take this tree out of the water by nets, and keep it to the use of medicine, for it is a good medicinal tree.
OF CINNAMON,
Of Cannel and of Cassia men told fables in old time, that it is found
in birds' nests, and specially in the Phoenix' nest. And may not
be found, but what falter by its own weight, or is smitten down with lead
arrows. But these men do feign, to make things dear and of great
price; but as the soothe meant, cannel groweth among the Trogodites in
the little Ethiopia, and cometh by long space of the sea in ships to the
haven of Gelatins. No man hath leave to gather thereof tofore the sun-rising,
nor after the sun going down. And when it is gathered, the priest by measure
de~eth the branches and taketh thereof a part; and so by space of time,
merchants buy that other deal.
OF THE LAUREL,
Of this tree speaketh the Master in History, and saith that Rebecca (Gen. xvij.) for trembling of nations she had seen in them that perished, laid a manner laurel tree that she called Tripodem under her head, and sat her upon boughs of an herb that hight Agnus Castus, for to use very revelations and sights and not fantasies.
The Emperor Tiberius Caesar in thundering and light-ning used a garland of Laurel Tree on his head against dread of lightning, as it is said. Also Plinius telleth a wonder thing, that the emperor sat by Drusilla the empress in a certain garden, and an eagle threw from a right high place a wonder white hen into the empress' lap whole and sound, and the hen held in her bill a bough of laurel tree full of bays, and Diviners took heed to the hen, and sowed the bays, and kept them wisely, and of them came a wood, that was called Silva Trium-phans, as it were the wood of worship for victory and mastery.
The green leaves thereof, that smell full well if they be stamped, heal
stinging of bees and of wasps, and do away all swellings, and keep books
and clothes there it is among from moths and other worms, and save them
fro fretting and gnawing. The fruit of laurel trees are called bays, and
are brown or red without, and white within and unctuous.
OF DI~ANY,
It is said that a hind taught first the virtue of diptannus, for she
eateth this herb that she may calve easilier and sooner; and if she be
hurt with an arrow, she seeketh this herb and eateth it, which putteth
the iron out of the wound.
OF THE ASH
And ash hath so great virtue that serpents come not in shadow thereof
in the morning nor at even. And if a serpent be set within a fire and ash
leaves, he will flee into the fire sooner than into the leaves.
THE BEAN,
Beans be damned by Pythagoras' sentence, for it is Os said, that by
oft use thereof, the wits are dulled and cause many dreams. Or else as
other men mean, for dead men's souls be therein. Therefore Varro saith
that the bishop should not eat beans. And many medley beans with bread
corn, to make the bread more heavy.
OF WHEAT,
The stalk is called Stipula as ustipula, and hath that name of usta,
burnt. For when it is gathered some of the straw is burnt to help and amend
the land. And some is kept to fodder of beasts, and is called Palea : for
it is first meat that is laid tofore beasts, namely in some countries as
in Tuscany. As Pliny saith, if the seed be touched with tallow or grease
it is spoilt and lost. Among the best wheat sometimes grow ill weeds and
venemous as cockle, and other such, also there it is said, of corrupt dew
that cleaveth to the leaves cometh corruption in corn, and maketh it as
it were red or rusty. Among all manner corn wheat beareth the prize, and
to mankind nothing is more friendly, nothing more nourishing.
OF FLAx,
Flax groweth in even stalks, and bears yellow flowers or blue, and after cometh hops, and therein is the seed, and when the hop beginneth to wax, then the flax is drawn up and gathered all whole, and is then lined, and afterward made to knots and little bundles, and so laid in water, and lieth there long time. And then it is taken out of the water, and laid abroad till it be dried, and twined and wend in the sun, and then bound in pretty niches and bundles. And afterward knocked, beaten, and brayed, and carfied, rodded and gnodded, ribbed and heckled, and at the last spun. Then the thread is sod and bleached, and bucked, and oft laid to drying, wetted and washed, and sprinkled with water until that it be white, after divers working and travail.
Flax is needful to divers uses. For thereof is made clothing to
wear, and sails to sail, and nets to fish and to hunt, and thread to sew,
ropes to bind, and strings to shoot, bonds to bind, lines to mete and to
measure, and sheets to rest in, and sacks, bags, and purses, to put and
to keep things in. And so none herb is so needful, to so many divers uses
to mankind, as is the flax.
OF MANDRAGORA,
Ryndes thereof sodden in wine cause sleep, and abate all manner of soreness,
and so that time a man feeleth unneth though he be cut, but yet Mandragora
must be warily used: for it slayeth if men take much thereof. They that
dig Mandragora be busy to beware of contrary winds while they dig, and
make three circles about with a sword, and abide with the digging unto
the sun going down, and trow so to have the herb with the chief virtues.
OF THE PAPYRUS,
Papyrus is a manner rush, that is dried to kindle fire and lanterns, and hight the feeding of fire. And this herb is put to burn in prickets and in tapers. The rind is stripped off unto the pith, and is so dried, and a little is left of the rind on the one side, to sustain the tender pith; and the less is left of the rind, the more clear the pith burneth in a lamp, and is the sooner kindled. And about Memphis and in Ind be such great rushes, that they make boats thereof, as the Gloss saith. And Alex-ander's Story saith the same.
And of rushes are charters made, in the which were epistles written,
and sent by messengers. Also of rushes be made paniers, boxes, and cases,
and baskets to keep letters and other things in. And also they make thereof
paper to write with.
OF PEPPER,
Pepper is the seed or the fruit of a tree that groweth in the south
side of the hill Caucasus, in the strong heat of the sun. And serpents
keep the woods that pepper groweth in. And when the woods of pepper are
ripe, men of that country set them on fire, and chase away the serpents
by violence of fire And by such burning the grain of pepper that
was white by kind, is made black and rively.
OF A WOOD,
Woods be wild places, waste and desolate, that many OF trees grow in
without fruit, and also few having fruit. In these woods be oft wild
beasts and fowls, therein grow herbs, grass leas, and pasture, and namely
medicinal herbs in woods be found. In summer woods are beautied with
boughs and branches, with herbs and grass. In woods is place of deceit
and hunting. For therein wild beasts are hunted, and watches and
deceits are ordained and set of hounds and of hunters. There is place of
hiding and of lurking, for oft in woods thieves are hid, and oft in their
awaits and deceits passing men come, and are spoiled and robbed, and oft
slain. And so for many and divers ways and uncertain, strange men oft err
and go out of the way, and take uncertain ways, and the way that is unknown
tofore the way that is known, and come oft to the place there thieves lie
in await, and not without peril. Therefore be oft knots made on trees and
in bushes, in boughs and in branches of trees, in token and mark of the
highway, to show the certain and sure way to wayfaring men; but oft the
thieves in turning and meeting of ways, change such knots and signs, and
beguile many men, and bring them out of the right way by false tokens and
signs.
OF THE BIRCH
It hath many hard twigs and branches with knots, and therewith often
children are chastised and beaten on the bare buttocks and loins. And of
the boughs and branches thereof are besonis made to sweep and to clean
houses of dust and of other uncleanness. Wild men of woods and forests
use that seed in stead of bread. And this tree hath much sour juice, and
some-what biting. And men use therefore in springing time and in harvest
to slit the rinds, and to gather the humour that cometh out thereof, and
drink it in stead of wine.
Of TOW,
Hards is the cleansing of hemp or of flax. For with much breaking, heckling,
and rubbing, hards are de-parted fro the substance of hemp and of flax,
and is great when it is departed, and more knotty, short, and rough. And
is therefore not full able to be spun for thread thereof to be made, nathless
thereof is thread spun that is full great, uneven, and full of knobs, and
thereof are made bonds and bindings, and matches or candles; for it is
full dry and taketh soon fire and burneth.
OF A BOARD,
A board hight table, and is areared and set upon feet, and compassed with a list about. And in another manner, table is a playing board, that men play on at the dice and other games; and this manner of table is double, and arrayed with divers colours. In the third manner it is a thin plank and plane, and therein are letters writ with colours, and sometimes small shingles are planed and made somedeal hollow in either side, and filled full of wax, black, green, or red, to write therein.
Boards and tables garnish houses, nathless when they be set in solar
floors, they serve all men and beasts that are therein. Then they be dressed,
hewed, and planed, and made convenable to use of ships, of bridges, of
hulks, and coffers, and many other needful things of building. Also in
shipbreach men flee to a board, and are oft saved in peril.
OF A ROOF,
Roofs are trees areared and stretched fro the walls up to the top of
the house, and bear up the covering thereof. And stand wide beneath,
and come together upwards, and so they nigh nearer and nearer, and are
joined either to other in the top of the house. It holdeth up heling,
slates, shingle, and laths. The lath is long and somewhat broad, and plain
and thin, and is nailed thwart over to the rafters, and thereon bang slates,
tiles, and shingles. The rafters are strong and square, and hewn plain.
And are made fair within with fair joists and boards.
OF A VINEYARD,
A vineyard is busily tilthed and kept, and purged and cleaned of superfluities, and oft visited and overseen of the earth tilthers and keepers of vines, that it be not apaired neither destroyed with beasts, and is closed about with walls and with hedges, and a wait is there set in a high place to keep the vineyard that the fruit be not destroyed. And is left in winter without keeper or waiter, but in harvest time many come and haunt the vineyard. In winter the vineyard is full pale, and waxeth green and bloometh in springing time and in summer, and smelleth full sweet, and is pleasant with fruit in harvest time. The smell of the vineyard that bloometh is contrary to all venemous things, and there-fore when the vineyard bloometh, adders and serpents flee, and toads also, and may not sustain and suffer the noble savour thereof.
Foxes lurk and hide themselves under vine leaves, and gnaw covetously
and fret the grapes of the vine-yard and namely when the keepers and wards
be negligent and reckless, and it profiteth not that some unwise men do,
that close within the vineyard hounds, that are adversaries to foxes.
For few hounds so closed waste and destroy more grapes than many foxes
should destroy that come and eat thereof thievishly. There-fore wise wardens
of vineyards be full busy to keep, that no swine nor tame hounds nor foxes
come in to the vineyard. From fretting and gnawing of flies and of other
worms, a vineyard may not be kept nor saved, but by His succour and help
that all thing hath and pursueth in His power and might, and keepeth and
saveth all lordly and mighty.
OF WINE,
The worthiness and praising of wine might not Bacchus himself describe at the full, though he were alive. For among all liquors and juice of trees, wine beareth the prize, for passing all liquors, wine moderately drunk most comforteth the body, and gladdeth the heart, and saveth wounds and evils. Wine strengtheneth all the members of the body, and giveth to each might and strength, and deed and working of the soul showeth and declareth the goodness of wine. And wine breedeth in the soul forgetting of anguish, of sorrow, and of woe, and suffereth not the soul to feel anguish and woe. Wine sharpeth the wit and maketh it cunning to enquire things that are hard and subtle, and maketh the soul bold and hardy, and so the passing nobility of wine is known. And use of wine accordeth to all men's ages and times and countries, if it be taken in due manner, and as his disposition asketh that drinketh it.
Red wine that is temperate in its qualities, and is 'drunk temperately and in due manner, helpeth kind and gendreth good blood, and maketh savour in meat and in drink, and exciteth desire and appetite, and com-forteth the virtue of life and of kind, and helpeth the stomach to have appetite, and to have and to make good digestion. And quencheth thirst, and changeth the passions of the soul and thoughts out of evil into good. For it turneth the soul out of cruelness into mildness, out of covetousness into largeness, out of pride into meekness, and out of dread into boldness. And shortly to speak, wine drunk measurably is health of body and of soul.
And nothing is worse passing out of measure. And so Andronides, a clear man of wit and of wisdom, wrote to the great Alexander, to restrain wine kind in drink-. mg, and said in this manner :-' King have mind, that thou drinkest blood of the earth, for wine drinking untemperately is to mankind heavy and venemous. And if Alexander had done by his counsel, truly he had not slain his own friend in drunkenness. If wine be often taken, anon by drunkenness it quencheth the sight of reason, and comforteth beastly madness, and so the body abideth as it were a ship in the sea without stern and without lodesman, and as chivalry without prince or duke.