ake
to be the plant so called) is supposed to be one of the greatest coolers
in the world. This being an early plant, was gathered very young for a
boiled salad, by some of the soldiers sent thither to quell the
rebellion of Bacon; and some of them eat plentifully of it, the effect
of which was a very pleasant comedy; for they turned natural fools upon
it for several days: one would blow up a feather in the air; another
would dart straws at it with much fury; and another stark naked was
sitting up in a corner, like a monkey, grinning and making mows at them;
a fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions, and snear in their
faces, with a countenance more antic than any in a Dutch droll. In this
frantic condition they were confined, lest they should in their folly
destroy themselves; though it was observed that all their actions were
full of innocence and good nature. Indeed, they were not very cleanly,
for they would have wallowed in their own excrements if they had not
been prevented. A thousand such simple tricks they played, and after
eleven days returned to themselves again, not remembering anything that
had passed.

Perhaps this was the same herb that Mark Antony's army met with in his
retreat from the Parthian war and siege of Phraata, when such as had
eaten thereof employed themselves with much earnestness and industry in
grubbing up stones, and removing them from one place to another, as if
it had been a business of the greatest consequence. Wine, as the story
says, was found a sovereign remedy for it, which is likely enough, the
malignity of this herb being cold.

Of spontaneous flowers they have an unknown variety: the finest crown
imperial in the world; the cardinal flower, so much extolled for its
scarlet color, is almost in every branch; the moccasin flower, and a
thousand others not yet known to English herbalists. Almost all the year
round the levels and vales are beautified with flowers of one kind or
other, which make their woods as fragrant as a garden. From the
materials, their wild bees make vast quantities of honey, but their
magazines are very often rifled by bears, raccoons, and such like
liquorish vermin.

About the year 1701, walking out to take the air, I found, a little
without my pasture fence, a flower as big as a tulip, and upon a stalk
resembling the stalk of a tulip. The flower was of a flesh color, having
a down upon one end, while the other was plain. The form of it resembled
the