“With us there was a doctor of physic, In all this world there was none him like To speak of physic and of surgery, For he was grounded in astronomy, He kept his patient in a full great deal, In houres by his magic natural. Well could he fortune the ascendant, Of his images for his patient He knew the cause of every malady, Were it of cold, or hot, or moist, or dry, And where engendered and of what humour, He was a very perfect practisour. The cause-y-know and of his harm the root Anon he gave to the sick man his boot. Full ready had he his apothecaries, To send his drugges and his lectuaries For each of them made other for to win Their friendship was not newe to begin. Well knew he the old Æsculapius, And Dioscorides, and eke Rufus, Old Hippocras, Hali, and Gallien, Serapion, Rasis, and Avicen Averrois, Damascene, and Constantin, Bernard, and Gatisden, and Gilbertin. Of his diet measurable was he, For it was of no superfluity, But of great nourishing and digestable; His study was but little on the Bible, In sanguine and in perse he clad was, all Lined with taffata and with sendall, And yet he was but easy of dispence, He kept that he won in the pestilence. For gold in physic is a cordial, Therefore he loved gold in special.” One can thus picture the ancient physician riding his steady jennet, clad in doublet and hose of red and blue, with cloak of sendall, a fine silk material, all lined with taffata. In telling the stars and casting horoscopes he would be learned, as astrology entered very largely into his practice, and brought many big fees. So learned a leech would doubtless have a large practice, and the apothecaries evidently vied with one another in preparing his prescriptions. The names of ancient philosophers with whom he was familiar is quite formidable, nearly all the old authors being enumerated. It is satisfactory to know he was no glutton, and had an easy conscience. That he was a wise and careful man is evident from the fact that when an epidemic came he lived but moderately, and saved extra money that flowed in during the plague time. The closing couplet is a pretty bit of wit, and alludes to the frequent use of gold in medicine in ancient times. Among the pilgrims also was a cook— “To boil the chickens and the marrow bones, And powder marchant tart and garlingale”. The former ingredient, probably a kind of baking powder, is now unknown, and the use of galingal in cookery has been quite forgotten. This aromatic condiment was commonly used as a culinary spice in the middle ages. Reference is made to the drug in the writings of Ibn Khurdadbah, the Arabian geographer, in the year 869. It was used mixed with cloves and cardamoms, and also employed in medical practice as early as the ninth century.