Amedicyn I hawe i Myde For hedwerk to telle as I fynde To taken eysyl pulyole ryale And camamyle to sethe wt all; And wt ye jous anoyte yi nosthryll well A make aplaister of ye toyerdel; And do it in a good grete clowte And wynde yi heed yer wt abowte; As soon as it be leyde yeron All yi hedwerk xal away gon. Two other specimens of these early poetical recipes from other authors may be quoted:-- ffor defhed of ye hed. For defhed of hed & for dullerynge I fynde wrete dyuers thynge Take oporcyon (a portion) of boiys vryne And mege it wt honey good & fyne And i ye ere late it caste Ye herynge schal amede in haste. ffor to slepe well Qwo so may not slepe wel Take egrimonye afayre del And ley it vnder his heed on nyth And it schall hym do slepe aryth For of his slepe schal he not wakyn Tyll it be fro vnder his heed takyn. THE EARLY ENGLISH DRUG TRADE. The development of pharmacy as a separate organisation was later in England than on the Continent, and was very gradual. In the Norman period the retail trade in drugs and spices and most other commodities was in the hands of the mercers. These were, in fact, general shopkeepers, deriving their designation from merx, merchandise. They attended fairs and markets, and in the few large towns had permanent booths. Under the Plantagenets a part of the south side of “Chepe” roughly extending from where is now Bow Church to Friday Street was occupied by their stores, and was known as the Mercery. Behind these booths were the meadows of Crownsild, sloping down to what it may be hoped was then the silvery Thames. Probably sheep and cattle fed on the pastures which Cannon Street and Upper Thames Street have since usurped. But English traders were beginning to feel their feet, and other guilds were pushing forward. The Easterlings (East Germans from the Baltic coasts and the Hanse towns) brought goods from the East and placed them on the English market, and the Pepperers and Spicers distributed them to the public. The Easterlings, it may be mentioned, have left us the word sterling to commemorate their sojourn among us. The Mercers meanwhile were getting above the shop. They were becoming merchant adventurers, and had no desire to contest the trade in small things with the Pepperers of Sopers’ Lane, or the Spicers of Chepe. Their other small wares fell into the hands of the Haberdashers.