Note E221 — 40.
Reading edition
"Blessed Thistle." "So worthily named for the singular vertues that it hath.... It sharpneth the wit and memorie, strengthneth all the principall parts of the bodie, quickneth all the senses, comforteth the stomacke, procureth appetite, and hath a speciall vertue against poyson, and preserueth from the Pestilence, and is excellent good against any kinde of Feuer, being vsed in this manner: Take a dramme of the powder, put it into a good draught of ale or wine, warme it and drink it a quarter of an hour before the fit doth come, then goe to bed, couer you well with clothes and procure sweate, which by the force of the herbe will easily come foorth, and so continue vntill the fit be past.... For which notable effects this herbe may worthily be called Benedictus or Omnimorbia, that is a salue for euery sore, not knowen to Physitians of old time, but lately reuealed by the speciall providence of Almighty God."—Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 545.