^{page 148 note b} Halliwell's Dictionary s. v. Simples. He wants cutting for the simples, said of one doing a foolish action. “He must go to Battersea, to be cut for the simples.” Old Proverb.

Mr. W. Carew Hazlitt in his English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, annotates the proverb thus: “The origin of this proverb being forgotten, people not overburthened with wit are recommended to go to Battersea to be cut for the simples. In former times the London apothecaries used to make a summer excursion to Battersea to see the medicinal herbs, called simples, cut at the proper season, which the market-gardeners in that neighbourhood were distinguished for cultivating.” R. 143. (K.—Ray's Collection of Proverbs, ed. 1737.)Google Scholar