A Bath for Melancholy, you say?

Edith Wharton's Garden ~ photo by ana traina ~ 2011

 Everyone suffers from the blues now and then and wouldn't it be great if you could just wash your troubles away? Well, maybe you can with the following recipe from the Fairfax Still-room book (published 1651). I think it's worth a rubber duckie and a good splash, so...

To make a bath for Melancholy ~ Take Mallowes, pellitory of the wall, of each three handfulls; Camomell Flowers, Mellilot flowers, of each one handfull, senerick seed one ounce, and boil them in nine gallons of Water untill they come to three, then put in a quart of new milke and go into it bloud warme or something warmer.'

Mallows are Old World perennial with faintly musk-scented foliage and white or pink flowers

Pellitory-of-the-Wall is a humble, inconspicuous plant belonging to the same group as the Stinging Nettle and the Hop.

MelUlot ~ sweet clover ~

Senerick seed - The seeds of MelUlot, it possess antibiotic activity. Formerly used in herb beer; flowers and seeds used to flavour Gruyere cheese, snuff and smoking tobacco. Limited cosmetic use where hay-like aroma is required.

Isop ~ Hyssop

Ben Jonson says:
'A good old woman . . . did cure me
With sodden ale and pellitorie o' the wall.'