“Our weomen in Englande and some men that be sunneburnt and would be fayre, eyther stepe this herbe in white wyne and wash their faces with the wyne or ellis with the distilled water of the same.”
[52] Complete Account of the Coronations of the Kings and Queens of England, J. Roberts.
THISTLE (_Carduus Marianus and Carduus Benedictus_).
_Margaret._ Get you some of this distilled Carduus Benedictus, and lay it to your heart, it is the only thing for a qualm.
_Hero._ There thou prick’st her with a thistle.
_Beatrice._ Benedictus! why Benedictus? you have some moral in this Benedictus.
_Margaret._ Moral! no, by my troth, I have no moral meaning; I meant plain holy thistle.
That thence, as from a garden without dressing She these should ever have, and never want. Store from an orchard without tree or plant... And for the chiefest cherisher she lent The royal thistle’s milky nourishment.
The history, legends, and traditions surrounding Thistles in general, make far too large a subject to be entered on here, and only these two varieties can be considered. _Carduus Marianus_, the Milk or Dappled Thistle, has sometimes been called the Scotch Thistle, and announced to be the Thistle of Scotland. As a matter of fact, I believe, that after long and stormy controversy, that honour has been awarded to _Carduus Acanthioides_, but the Milk Thistle’s claims have received very strong support, and so it seems most probable, considering the context, that when Browne referred to the “Royal Thistle,” it was this one that he meant. This supposition is borne out by Hogg, who writes: “As Ray says, it is more a garden vegetable than a medicinal plant. The young and tender stalks of the root leaves when stripped of their spiny part, are eaten like cardoon, or when boiled, are used as greens. The young stalks, peeled and soaked in water to extract their bitterness, are excellent as a salad. The scales of the involucre are as good as those of the artichoke, and the roots in early spring are good to eat.” The seeds supply food to many small birds, and it is from the gold-finch feeding so extensively on them that it has been called _Carduelis_. This partiality of the gold-finch must have been observed in several lands, for the same name occurs in different tongues. In England, it has been called Thistlefinch; in French, _Chardonneret_, and in Italian, _Cardeletto_, _Cardeto_ being a waste covered with thistles. One cannot help remembering the charming line:--