qualities. The whole tribe is termed _lepidium_, or "siliquose,"
scaly, with reference to the shape of the seed-pouches. It includes
"Land Cress (formerly dedicated to St. Barbara); Broad-leaved
Cress (or the Poor-man's pepper); Penny Cress (_thlapsus_);
Garden, or Town Cress; and the well known edible Water Cress."
Formerly the Greeks attached much value to the whole order of
Cresses, which they thought very beneficial to the brain. A
favourite maxim with them was, "Eat Cresses, and get wit."

In England these plants have long been cultivated as a source of
profit; whence arose the saying that a graceless fellow is not worth
a "kurse" or cress--in German, _kers_. Thus Chaucer speaks about
a character in the _Canterbury Tales_, "Of paramours ne fraught
he not a kers." But some writers have referred this saying rather to
the wild cherry or kerse, making it of the same significance as our
common phrase, "Not worth a fig."

As Curative Herbal Simples we need only consider the Garden or
Town Cress, and the Water Cress: whilst regarding the other
varieties rather as condiments, and [128] salad herbs to be taken
by way of pleasant wholesome appetisers at table. These
aromatic herbs were employed to season the homely dishes of our
forefathers, before commerce had brought the spices of the East at
a cheap rate to our doors; and Cresses were held in common
favour by peasants for such a purpose. The black, or white pepper
of to-day, was then so costly that "to promise a saint yearly a
pound of it was considered a liberal bequest." And therefore the
leaves of wild Cresses were eaten as a substitute for giving
pungency to the food. Remarkable among these was the _Dittander
Sativus_, a species found chiefly near the sea, with foliage
so hot and acrid, that the plant then went by the name of
"Poor-man's Pepper," or "Pepper Wort." Pliny said, "It is of the
number of scorching and blistering Simples." "This herbe," says
Lyte, "is fondly and unlearnedly called in English Dittany. It were
better in following the Dutchmen to name it Pepperwort."

The _Garden Cress_, called _Sativum_ (from _satum_, a pasture),
is the sort commonly coupled with the herb Mustard in our
familiar "Mustard and Cress." It has been grown in England since
the middle of the sixteenth century, and its other name _Town_
Cress refers to its cultivation in "tounes," or enclosures. It was
also known as Passerage; from _passer_, to drive away--rage, or
madness, be