318
HUNGARY WATER.
was given to a Queen of Hungary , by a hermit or youth, or,as has been said, by an angel, who appeared to her in a gar-den, all entrance to which, she says, was shut. Some callthis Queen St. Isabella;' but those who pretend to know thecircumstance better, say that Elizabeth, wife of CharlesRobert, King of Hungary , who was the daughter of Uladis-laus II. King of Polaud, and who died 1380 or 1381, wasthe inventress, and who, by often washing with this spirit ofrosemary, when in her seventieth year, was cured of thegout and a general lameness; so that she not only lived tosee above eighty, but withal became so lively and cheerful,and even beautiful, that she was courted at that age by aPolish king, then a widower, who wished to make her hissecond wife.
John George Hoyer 1 says, that a receipt for preparingthis water, written by the Queen’s own hand, in golden cha-racters, is still preserved in the Imperial library at Vienna ;but others have observed, that Hoyer is mistaken in theaccount he has given of this receipt. It is to be found, aswe have been informed, in a small book of John Prevot,which, after his death in 1631, was published by his sons atFrankfort, in 1659. 3 Prevot, in those writings betrays a
* Trait6 de la Chemie, par N. le Febure. Leyde, 1669, 2 vol. 12mo. i. p. 474.
1 In his notes to BJumentrosts Haus-und-reise-apotheke. Leipzig, 1716, 8vo.cap. 16, p. 47.
3 Selectiora remedia multiplici usu coraprobata, qu® inter secreta medica jurerecenseas. Auctore Joanne Pfavotio, Rauraco, in Patav. gynmasio dim medicinepractice profeasore, et horti medici prad’ecto. Libellus posthuums a Joan. Bapt.etTheob. auctorisjil. in luccrn editus, lgiuo. In the sixth page is the followingpassage. “ For the gout in hands or feet, As the wonderful virtue of the remedybelow has been confirmed by many, I shall relate by what good fortune Ihappened to meet with it. In 1606, I saw among the books of Francis Podacather,a noble Cyprian family, my intimate friend, a very old breviary, whieli he highlyvenerated, because it had been presented to bis ancestors by St. Elizabeth) theQueen of Hungary , in testimony of friendship. In the beginning of the book isthe following recipe, in the Queen’s own hand, with this memorandum.
** 4 1, Elizabeth, Queen ot Hungary , being very infirm and much troubled withthe gout, in the seventy-second year of my age, used for a year this receipt, gitento me by an ancient hermit, whom I never saw before nor since. It not only curedme of my complaint, but restored my strength, and I appeared to all so beautiful,that the King of Polaud asked tne in marriage, he being a w idower and I a widow.I, however, refused him tor the love of my Lord Jesus Christ, from one of whoseangels, I believe, I received the remedy as follows:
*** K* Take ot aqua vnae, four times distilled, three parts, and of the tops andflowers of rosemary, two parts $ put these together in a close vessel ; let themstand in a gentle hear filtv hours, and then distil them. Take one drain of this inthe morning once every week, either in your food or drink, and let your face andthe diseased limb be washed with it every morning
In a postscript then is added: ‘ It renovates the strength, brightens the spirits,purifies the marrow and nerves, restores and preserves the sight, and prolongs life.”Thus far the breviary. Then comes a confirmation which Prevot furnishes from hisown experience.