The treatise on herbs formed, as we have seen, only a part of Bartholomew's _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, and, to speak strictly, the first printed English herbal was the small quarto volume published by Richard Banckes in 1525. It was the beginning of a series of small books[45] chiefly in black letter. All of them, though issued from different presses, have nearly the same title, and they vary only slightly from the original _Banckes's Herbal_. The title of this Herbal is-- "Here begynneth a new mater / the whiche sheweth and | treateth of ye vertues & proprytes of her- | bes / the whiche is called | an Herball ['.'] | ¶ Cum gratia & priuilegio | a rege indulto | "(_Colophon_) ¶ Imprynted by me Rycharde Banckes / dwellynge in | Lōdō / a lytel fro ye Stockes in ye Pultry / ye XXV day of | Marche. The yere of our Lorde MCCCCC. & XXV." We do not know who the author of this book was, and it has been suggested that it is based on some mediæval English manuscript now lost. Certainly when one reads this anonymous work known as _Banckes's Herbal_ one is struck not only by its superiority to the later and more famous _Grete Herball_, but also by its greater charm. It gives the impression of being a compilation from various sources, the author having made his own selection from what pleased him most in the older English manuscript herbals. It seems to have been a labour of love, whereas the _Grete Herball_ is merely a translation. It is almost certain that the writer made use of one of the numerous manuscript versions of Macer's Herbal, which in parts _Banckes's Herbal_ resembles very closely, and the chapter on rosemary shows that he had access to one of the copies of the manuscript on the virtues of rosemary which was sent by the Countess of Hainault to Queen Philippa. He does not give the beautiful old tradition preserved in that manuscript,[46] but he ascribes wonderful virtues to this herb, with the same loving enthusiasm and almost in the same words. Of rosemary in _Banckes's Herbal_ we read:-- "Take the flowers thereof and make powder thereof and binde it to thy right arme in a linnen cloath and it shale make thee light and merrie. "Take the flowers and put them in thy chest among thy clothes or among thy Bookes and Mothes shall not destroy them. "Boyle the leaves in white wine and washe thy face therewith and thy browes and thou shalt have a faire face. "Also put the leaves under thy bedde and thou shalt be delivered of all evill dreames. "Take the leaves and put them into wine and it shall keep the wine from all sourness and evill savours and if thou wilt sell thy wine thou shalt have goode speede. "Also if thou be feeble boyle the leaves in cleane water and washe thyself and thou shalt wax shiny.