Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Sam W. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note This text uses some uncommon characters, in particular yogh (ȝ), apostrophus (Ɔ) and y, m and n with a macron (ȳ, m̄ and n̄ respectively). There are also some astronomical symbols (♄, ♃, ♂, ⊙, ♀, ☿, ☽) and Greek text, e.g. Περὶ Διδαξέων. If these do not display correctly, you may need to adjust your font settings. Superscripted characters are surrounded with braces, e.g. y{e}. Tironian ampersands are indicated with [et]. A letter q with a small c above it, meaning the word 'qui', is indicated with [qui]. Asterisms (three dots arranged in a triangle point-up) are indicated with [.'.]. Reverse asterisms (three dots arranged in a triangle point-down) are indicated with ['.']. Other symbols are noted descriptively, and are enclosed in square brackets and marked with tildes, e.g. [~cross pattée~]. The parallel-column text referred to on page 67 has been transcribed as two separate paragraphs in this version of the e-text. THE OLD ENGLISH HERBALS BY ELEANOUR SINCLAIR ROHDE AUTHOR OF "A GARDEN OF HERBS" [Illustration: Illustration of the "lilie" from the Saxon translation of the _Herbarium of Apuleius_] Longmans, Green and Co. 1922 [Illustration: HERBS BEING DUG UP AND MADE INTO MEDICINES UNDER THE DIRECTION OF A SAGE From a 12th century copy of the _Herbarium of Apuleius_, now in the Library of Eton College] TO MY BROTHER "The Lely is an herbe wyth a whyte floure. And though the levys of the floure be whyte: yet wythin shyneth the lykenesse of golde."--BARTHOLOMÆUS ANGLICUS (_circ._ 1260). PREFACE