or hearbe grace, isope, mint, tyme, organny, violets, roses, gilly flowers, petilius, basyl, poppye, navewes, leeke, onions, garlike, melones, and al the kindes of pompones, cucumbers, the gourde, the artichoke, the beane of Egypt, radyshe, soote marjoram, sage, purselane, peneroyal, lyllye, parsnyps, yealow carret, the carnation. Such were the principal articles of the gardiner's nomenclature in the first half of the sixteenth century; many of them have long been rejected from our gardens, or are only found in rare instances, because the considerations which led them to be cultivated have long been exploded. The directions for cultivating them, and especially for their use, are still in Thomas Hyll's treatise often ridiculous enough. We may instance his account of borage, which at this time seems to have been one of the herbs most in repute :— "Borage is sowen in the moneth of Auguste, September, December, and Apryll, aucther alone in beddes or amonge the newe beddes of other herbes, nor it can not aptelye or fetelye bee sette in anye other tyme, and yet removed congruentlye, in anye tyme of the yeare, and hys sedes bee gathered halfe rype, that they may not otherwyse fall oute of the huskes, and the herbe with the seedes, layed on a heape for two or thre dayes, that the seedes there by maye come to theyr full rypenes: and after the seede rubbed and shaken into a lynnen cloth, for otherwyse you can not easely come to and have the seedes, and the sedes also be kept for two yeares. 'Also borage is hoote and moyste in the fyrste degree, for it hathe the propertye of engendryng gladnes, if it be drunk in wine. And it doth much comfort the harte, for it healpeth suche whyche bee payned with the syckenes of the harte, beyngee sodden in water with moyste, and for that cause it is better than other herbes, and it is most temperate also in the respect of other herbes, and it doth engender bothe bloud, and milke, so that there be not to much eaten of it rawe. Mint, also, is a plant which has lost much of its ancient reputation for healing qualities. "Mint or organny be set in slyppes, or in hole rotes, in a moyste place or neare about water; they neyther desyre sunny, fatte, nor dounged grounde. Plinie wylleth that mynt to be set in the begynnyng of Marche. "And agaynste the stynkynge of the mouth, and rottines of the gummes and teath, let then the mouth and gummes be washed with vineger of the decoctione of gardine mine, and after rubbed with the pouther of dry mynte, or with drye minte. And agaynste the courdyng of mylke in the brestes, take a great handfull of the mynthes, and ye same seath in wyne and oyle, and after layed plasterwyse on the pappes. "And further note, that when any medicine is geven agaynst poyson it must be ministred with the joyce of the mint, as with wyne of the decoctione of it, yf thou have or can not get (at that tyme) the joyce. And agaynst poyson also the only joyce of the mynte, or wyne of the dococtione of it, or the joyce of it with honny commyxed together, doeth healp the same, and the joyce ministred wyth hony doeth flea wurmes in the bellye, and it doth also kyl wormes, dropped into the eares, and beyng sodden in wyne and oyle.” Garlic was much used in former times, and minute directions are here given for its cultivation. With regard to the sowing and gathering of it we are told : "And besides he willeth it to be set in a white ground well digged up and dressed without any dunging. And to be gathered when their stalkes waxe drye and weake, in the wane of the moone, and in a cleare day and drye season. "And it is thought, that if the moone be gon downe, or set under the erth, when it is sowen, and that againe the moon be hid under the earth at the plucking up, that the great force of the savour wyl be wel abated therby, and the eater saver litle thereof. Further garlike will continew or last the longer time, if it be hanged in the smoke, or buryed in chaffe. "And further garlike is dry and hote in the middle of the fourth degree, and hath the vertue of consuminge, dyssolvynge, and expelling poyson, and agaynst the bytte of poysonable beastes take garlyke and bruse it; and lay that playsterwise on the sore. And agaynste wormes take garlike, a littel pepper, ye joyce of parcely, mint, and viniger, and of these together make a sauce, and eate the same with bread or fleshe. And eating it also, a man may the safelyer go after by stinckyng places, because ye stronge savour of it doth overcome al other savours and stinckes. And yet it hath certain evel properties, bycause it maketh inflation, hurteth and dryeth ye stomacke, provoketh thirst, and layed to the fleashe (in any parte of the body) doth make ulcers and sores after by lyeng long thereupon. And if a woman with childe feleth or smelleth not the savour of garlik set by her bed side in the night, it is then a most true notice and signe, yt she is conceyved wh child, but if the cholerike do eate a much and oftin of garlike, it doth then inflame and dry the whole body, and engendreth ye leapri, and causeth frensines and hurteth the sight, and causeth also the heade ache. And therefore cholerycke persons must especially take hede of to muche eating of garlike, and chiefely in the hote season, as in the spring and summer, because it doth soone engender red choler, and augmenteth and multiplieth the adust and more harmeth raw, then being eatin sod. But yet in wynter it is verye good for fleumatic parsons to eate thereof, if it be soberly and discretely eaten, for otherwise it doth harme. And certayne good properties also it hath, forasmuch as it greatly healpeth agaynst all poysons if it be eaten, or otherwyse, fyne brused and mingled with wine and so to be drunke." This notion of taking garlic, as a defence against bad smells, because it makes yourself smell worse than any odour you can have to provide against, is at least ingenious. To know how long these prejudices regarding herbs and plants endured, and how difficult it was to overcome them, we only need read old Gerard, and the various herbalists who preceded and followed him till a very recent period. Our citizen gardener appears not to have paid much attention to garden flowers, for we know that long before the time at which he wrote, there were numerous varieties carefully cultivated, of which he makes no mention; and singularly, he speaks very little of fruit, but perhaps he considered the orchard as a totally separate thing from the garden. After giving his list of herbs, he proceeds to instruct his readers in the importance of observing the astrological positions and conjunctions of the planets, as regulating the favourable moments for planting and sowing; for, says he, “ where Saturne and the moon are eyther iii. score degrees of the zodiack asunder (which distance is called a sextile aspect), or when they are assunder 126 degrees (which is called a triangle trygone, or tryent aspect), then it is good to labour the earth, for eyther sowing, tillyng, gardening, vynyng, or buyldyng;" adding thereto the solemn warning, "but when they are a quarter of the zodyacke asunder (called a quartel aspect), whych is 90 degrees, then medle not in suche matters." This "briefe and pleasaunt treatyse" concludes with "certayne preceptes in the gatheryng of the hearbes, seedes, flowers, and rootes," and a chapter of remedies against "noysome and hurtful weathers of the ayre, and beastes also noyous to gardens;" of which latter we have already given samples in the case of the toad and the frogs. The first edition of this little book was printed by John Day; the one we use for our notice is the second. It was frequently reprinted during the latter half of the sixteenth century. ART. V.-English Political Songs and Satires. The Political Songs of England, from the reign of John to that of Edward II. Poems and Songs relating to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and his Political Ballads, published in England during the Commonwealth. Edited by THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. (Published by the Percy Society, 1841. 8vo.) Ratts rhimed to Death; or the Rump-parliament hang'd up in the Shambles. (London, 1660. 8vo.) The Rump, a collection of Songs and Ballads, made upon those who would be a Parliament, and were but the Rump of an House of Commons five times dissolved. (London, 1660. 8vo.) Rome rhym'd to Death. Being a collection of choice Poems: in two parts, written by the E. of R., Dr. WILD, and others of the best modern wits. (London, 1683. 8vo.) A Collection of 86 Loyal Poems, all of them written upon the two late plots, viz., the horrid Salamanca plot in 1678, and the present fanatical conspiracy in 1683. (Collected by N. T. London, 1685. 8vo.) A Collection of the newest and most ingenious Poems, Songs, Catches, &c., against Popery, relating to the Times. (4 parts, 4to. London, printed in the year 1689.) A Collection of Poems on affairs of State. (3 parts, 4to. 1689.) A Collection of one hundred and eighty Loyal Songs, all written since 1678. Fourth edition, with many additions. (1694. 8vo.) Poems on affairs of State: from the time of Oliver Cromwell, to the abdication of King James the Second. (1697. 8vo.) Poems on affairs of State. (Fifth edition, 4 vols. 8vo. 1703-4-7.) A New Collection of Poems relating to State-affairs, from Oliver Cromwell to this present time, by the greatest wits of the Age. (1705. 8vo.) Whig and Tory: or wit on both sides; being a collection of Poems by ablest pens of the high and low parties upon the most remarkable occasions, from the change of the Ministry to this time. (1712. : 12mo.) A Tory Pill to purge Whig Melancholy or a collection of above one hundred New Loyal ballads, poems, &c., written in defence of Church and State. (1715. 12mo.) Political Merriment: or Truths told to some Tune. (1714. 12mo.) A Pill to Purge State Melancholy or a collection of excellent new ballads. (2 parts, 12mo. 1715-1718.) THE HE list above given of Collections of Political Satires, whether they take the form of poem, song, or epigram, will serve to show how very extensive a field is here opened for the researches of scholars who care to illumine the drier walk of historic study by an investigation of the popular feeling of the masses, or the peculiar feeling of the political partizan on the great events of by-gone times. Without a knowledge obtained by the perusal of these almost forgotten piecés de circonstance, it will be impossible to account for the strong feeling evinced by large masses of the English nation on occasions which now only excite our wonder at the great expenditure of mental and bodily energy so lavishly bestowed on them. Such for instance as the childish "plots" of Charles II.'s time or the equally absurd importance given to the trial of Dr. Sacheverell in the reign of Queen Anne. They were, however, ingeniously tortured into "party" matters, and, as such, embroiled the whole kingdom, and occasioned a virulence of feeling to which modern Englishmen are happily less liable, and we can only contemplate them with surprise, if not with pity. II.-5 4. ; These "waifs and strays" thus cast upon the troubled sea of politics have often realized the truth of Sydney's implied declaration that the song-writer is greater than the law-maker. Let those who doubt this power turn to the song of "Lilli-burlero," as given in Percy's Reliques, and after perusing its common-place words and the childish repetitions of its "burden," wonder with Bishop Burnet that this "foolish ballad," as he justly terms it, had power enough to fatally injure the cause of James II, and materially help on the great Revolution. "It made an impression on the king's army,' says the bishop, "that cannot be imagined by those that saw it not. The whole army, and at last the people, both in city and country, were singing it perpetually. And perhaps never had so slight a thing so great an effect." Its hold on the popular mind helped no doubt to seal the fate of the Stuart dynasty. وو At an earlier period the rude strong rhymes of an impassioned thinker must have had a powerful effect on the ruler as the bitter exponent of the wronged and crushed feelings of the unjustly ruled. The pages of the historian occasionally narrate the effect produced by them, and the fear which the most tyrannical of princes evinced at their appearance. They were the shrieks of wronged humanity forcing an hearing in the penetralia of princes, and the bugbears of a corrupt administration. They took all shapes, and bore many names, were passed from mouth to mouth, and became familiar, but were frequently too dangerous to trust to paper. Hence they are among the rarest fragments of medieval literature, and actually among the most valuable for the insight they give us of that popular under-current of feeling among the people which ended after many centuries of oppression in placing the liberty of the Commons of England on the broad and noble basis upon which it now stands. Scattered thus in manuscript collections of a miscellaneous kind; written down from floating versions, and preserved with some risk of danger to the possessor, we can only wonder that so much of medieval political satire could yet be gathered as Mr. Wright has published in the volume which heads our list. It must be borne in mind that no "collection" was ever set forth of these political "cast-aways" until the first year of the Restoration when the small volume called Ratts rhymed to death, included some twenty of the most violent and indelicate satires on the Cromwellian party. Percy had given us a specimen of what he terms "an ancient libel" in his Richard of Almaigne. Holinshed had noticed some |