Chaps. 9-19.

Chap. 9.—At What Period Spartum Was First Employed.

The Greeks used formerly to employ the rush for making ropes; so, at least, we are led to believe, from the name [The same word, σχοῖνος, signifying both a “rush” and a “rope.”] given by them to that plant; and at a later period they made them, it is very clear, from the leaves of the palm, and the inner bark of the linden-tree. It seems to me very probable, too, that it was from them that the Carthaginians borrowed the first hint for applying spartum to a similar purpose.

Chap. 10.—The Bulb Eriophorus.

Theophrastus [Hist. Plant. B. vii. c. 13. Athenæus, B. ii., mentions it also.] informs us, that there is a kind of bulb, which grows on the banks of rivers, and which encloses between the outer coat and the portion that is eaten a sort of woolly substance, of which felt socks, and other articles of dress, are made; but, in the copies, those at least which have fallen in my way, there is no mention made of the country in which it grows, or of any details in connection with it, beyond the fact that the name given to it is “eriophoron.” [Fée is at a loss to identify this plant, but considers it quite clear that it is not the same with the Eriophorum augustifolium of Linnæus, a cyperaceous plant, of which the characteristics are totally different. Dodonæus, however, was inclined to consider them identical.] As to spartum, he makes no [On the contrary, Theophrastus does mention it, in the Hist. Plant. B. i. c. 8, and speaks of it as having a bark composed of several tunics or membranes.] mention of it whatever, although he has given the history, with the greatest exactness, of all the known plants, three hundred and ninety years before our time—a fact to which I have already [In B. xiii. c. 13, and B. xv. c. 1.] alluded on other occasions: from this it would appear that spartum has come into use since his day.

Chap. 11.—Plants Which Spring Up and Grow Without a Root—Plants Which Grow, but Cannot Be Reproduced from Seed.

As we have here made a beginning of treating of the marvels of Nature, we shall proceed to examine them in detail; and among them the very greatest of all, beyond a doubt, is the fact that any plant should spring up and grow without a root. Such, for instance, is the vegetable production known as the truffle; [“Tuber.” The Tuber cibarium of Linnæus, the black truffle; and probably the grey truffle, the Tuber griseum.] surrounded on every side by earth, it is connected with it by no fibres, not so much as a single thread even, while the spot in which it grows, presents neither protuberance nor cleft to the view. It is found, in fact, in no way adhering to the earth, but enclosed within an outer coat; so much so, indeed, that though we cannot exactly pronounce it to be composed of earth, we must conclude that it is nothing else but a callous [This callous secretion of the earth, or corticle, is, as Fée says, a sort of hymenium, formed of vesicles, which, as they develope themselves, are found to contain diminutive truffles. Pliny is wrong in saying that the truffle forms neither cleft nor protuberance, as the exact contrary is the fact.] concretion of the earth.

Truffles generally grow in dry, sandy soils, and spots that are thickly covered with shrubs; in size they are often larger than a quince, and are found to weigh as much [Haller speaks of truffles weighing as much as fourteen pounds. Valmont de Bomare speaks of a truffle commonly found in Savoy, which attains the weight of a pound.] as a pound. There are two kinds of them, the one full of sand, and consequently injurious to the teeth, the other free from sand and all impurities. They are distinguished also by their colour, which is red or black, and white within; those of Africa [Those of Africa are in general similar to those found in Europe, but there is one peculiar to that country, possibly the same that is mentioned in the following Chapter under the name of “misy.”] are the most esteemed. Whether the truffle grows gradually, or whether this blemish of the earth—for it can be looked upon as nothing else—at once assumes the globular form and magnitude which it presents when found; whether, too, it is possessed of vitality or not, are all of them questions, which, in my opinion, are not easy to be solved. It decays and rots in a manner precisely similar to wood.

It is known to me as a fact, that the following circumstance happened to Lartius Licinius, a person of prætorian rank, while minister of justice, [“Jura reddenti.”] a few years ago, at Carthage in Spain; upon biting a truffle, he found a denarius inside, which all but broke his fore teeth—an evident proof that the truffle is nothing else but an agglomeration of elementary earth. At all events, it is quite certain that the truffle belongs to those vegetable productions which spring up spontaneously, and are incapable of being reproduced from seed. [It is really propagated by spores, included in sinuous chambers in the interior; but, notwithstanding the attempts that have been made, it has never yet been cultivated with any degree of success. In c. 13, Pliny seems to recognize the possibility of its multiplication by germs, where he says that its formation is attributed by some to water.]

Chap. 12. (3.)—Misy; Iton; and Geranion.

Of a similar nature, too, is the vegetable production known in the province of Cyrenaica by the name of “misy,” [Fée takes this to be the Tuber niveum of Desfontaines, the snow-white truffle. It is globular and somewhat piriform, grows to the size of a walnut, and sometimes of an orange, and is said to be most delicate eating.] remarkable for the sweetness of its smell and taste, but more fleshy than the truffle: the same, too, as to the iton [These truffles or morels do not appear to have been identified.] of the Thracians, and the geranion of the Greeks.

Chap. 13.—Particulars Connected with the Truffle.

The following peculiarities we find mentioned with reference to the truffle. When there have been showers in autumn, and frequent thunder-storms, truffles are produced, thunder [Juvenal alludes to this absurd notion, Sat. v. l. 116. “The long wished-for thunder will provide a more ample repast.”] contributing more particularly to their developement; they do not, however, last beyond a year, and are considered the most delicate eating when gathered in spring. In some places the formation of them is attributed to water; as at Mytilene, [Theophrastus, as quoted by Athenæus, B. ii. speaks of this.] for instance, where they are never to be found, it is said, unless the rivers overflow, and bring down the seed from Tiara, that being the name of a place at which they are produced in the greatest abundance. The finest truffles of Asia are those found in the neighbourhood of Lampsacus and Alopeconnesus; the best in Greece are those of the vicinity of Elis.

Chap. 14.—The Pezica.

Belonging to the mushroom genus, also, there is a species, known to the Greeks by the name of “pezica,” [“Peziza” was a name given by the ancients to a kind of cupuliform mushroom; in which, however, we cannot recognize the “pezica” of Pliny. Some writers think that this was the same as the lycoperdon and geastrum of botanists, our puff-ball: while others take it to be the morel, the Morchella esculenta, Sprengel in the number. Fée is inclined to be of opinion that an edible mushroom is meant, but is quite at a loss to identify it.] which grows without either root or stalk.

Chap. 15.—Laserpitium, Laser, and Maspetum.

Next to these, laserpitium [Possibly the Ferula asafœtida of Linnæus; or, according to some, the Thapsia silphium of Viviani, Flor. Lib. It was a plant common, according to ancient writers, to Syria, Armenia, Media, and Libya; but it was the produce of this last country, probably, that afforded the juice or gum resin here mentioned as “laser,” and so highly esteemed by the ancients, as forming a component part of their perfumes. Fée is inclined to think that the Laserpitium here spoken of was the Thapsia silphium, and to reject the more general opinion that it is identical with the Ferula asafœtida. Pliny has probably caused some confusion by blending the description of other writers with that given by Theophrastus, each having in view a different plant. Indeed, whatever the Laserpitium or Silphium of other countries may have been, it is not improbable that the odoriferous plant of Cyrenaica was not identical with the Ferula asafœtida of Linnæus. The foliage of the Thapsia silphium is exactly similar to that of the Laserpitium as depicted on medals of Cyrenaica, still extant. We learn from Littré, that Dr. Guyon showed, in 1842, to the Académie des Sciences, a plant which the Arabs of Algeria employ as a purgative, and which they call bonnefa. It is the Thapsia Garganica of Desfontaines, and is considered by Guyon to be identical with the Silphium of the ancients.] claims our notice, a very remarkable plant, known to the Greeks by the name of “silphion,” and originally a native of the province of Cyrenaica. The juice of this plant is called “laser,” and it is greatly in vogue for medicinal as well as other purposes, being sold at the same rate as silver. For these many years past, however, it has not been found in Cyrenaica, [See B. xxii. c.. In the “Rudens” of Plautus, the scene of which is near Cyrene, frequent allusion is made to the growth of laserpitium there, and the preparation and export of the resin, as forming the staple article of commerce.] as the farmers of the revenue who hold the lands there on lease, have a notion that it is more profitable to depasture flocks of sheep upon them. Within the memory of the present generation, a single stalk [Scribonius Largus, who lived in the time of Tiberius, speaks of using in a prescription laser of Cyrenaica, “if it can be met with;” “si poterit inveniri.”] is all that has ever been found there, and that was sent as a curiosity to the Emperor Nero. If it so happen that one of the flock, while grazing, meets with a growing shoot [“In spem nascentis.”] of it, the fact is easily ascertained by the following signs; the sheep, after eating of it, immediately falls asleep, while the goat is seized with a fit of sneezing. [Fée remarks that Pliny has not found this absurd story in any of the works from which he has compiled his account, but that it is entirely his own.] For this long time past, there has been no other laser imported into this country, but that produced in either Persis, Media, or Armenia, where it grows in considerable abundance, though much inferior [This was probably the Ferula asafœtida of Linnæus.] to that of Cyrenaica; and even then it is extensively adulterated with gum, sacopenium, [See B. xx. c..] or pounded beans. I ought the less then to omit the facts, that in the consulship [A.U.C. 661.] of C. Valerius and M. Herennius, there was brought to Rome, from Cyrenæ, for the public service, thirty pounds’ weight of laserpitium, and that the Dictator Cæsar, at the beginning of the Civil War, took from out of the public treasury, besides gold and silver, no less than fifteen hundred pounds of laserpitium.

We find it stated by the most trustworthy among the Greek writers, [Fée remarks, that if Pliny here alludes to Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 3, he has mistaken his meaning.] that this plant first made its appearance in the vicinity of the gardens of the Hesperides and the Greater Syrtis, immediately after the earth had been soaked on a sudden by a shower as black as pitch. This took place seven years before the foundation of the city of Cyrenæ, and in the year of Rome 143. The virtues of this remarkable fall of rain extended, it is said, over no less than four thousand stadia of the African territory; and upon this soil laserpitium began universally to grow, a plant that is in general wild and stubborn, and which, if attempted to be cultivated, will leave the spot where it has been sown quite desolate and barren. The roots of it are numerous and thick, the stalk being like that of fennel-giant, and of similar thickness. The leaves of this plant were known as “maspetum,” and bore a considerable resemblance to parsley; the seeds of it were foliaceous, and the plant shed its leaves every year. They used to feed the cattle there upon it; at first it purged them, but afterwards they would grow fat, the flesh being improved in flavour in a most surprising degree. After the fall of the leaf, the people themselves were in the habit of eating [This, as Fée says, could hardly apply to the Ferula asafœtida of Linnæus, the stalk of it being extremely acrid, and the juice fetid in the highest degree.] the stalk, either roasted or boiled: from the drastic effects of this diet the body was purged for the first forty days, all vicious humours being effectually removed. [“Vitia his omnibus.” The reading here is probably corrupt.]

The juices of this plant were collected two different ways, either from the root or from the stalk; in consequence of which these two varieties of the juice were known by the distinguishing names of “rhizias” and “caulias,” [“Root-juice,” and “stalk-juice.”] the last being of inferior quality to the other, and very apt to turn putrid. Upon the root there was a black bark, which was extensively employed for the purposes of adulteration. The juice of the plant was received in vessels, and mixed there with a layer of bran; after which, from time to time it was shaken, till it had reached a proper state of maturity; indeed, if this precaution was neglected, it was apt to turn putrid. The signs that it had come to maturity were its colour, its dryness, and the absorption of all humidity.

There are some authors, however, who state that the root of laserpitium was more than a cubit in length, and that it presented a tuberosity above the surface of the earth. An incision, they say, was made in this tuberosity, from which a juice would flow, like milk in appearance; above the tuberosity grew a stalk, to which they give the name of “magydaris;” [Poinsinet fancies that this name means “staff of the Magi.”] the leaves that grew upon this stalk were of the colour of gold, and, falling at the rising of the Dog-star, when the south winds begin to prevail, they acted as seed for the purposes of reproduction. It was from these leaves, too, they say, that laserpitium [Or “laser,” these names being indifferently applied to the gum-resin.] was produced, the root and the stalk attaining their full growth in the space of one year. The same writers also state, that it was the practice to turn up the ground about the plant, and that it had no such effect as purging the cattle that were fed upon it; though one result of using it as food was, that such cattle as were ailing were either cured of their distempers, or else died immediately upon eating of it, a thing, however, that but rarely happened. The first description, however, is found to agree more nearly with the silphium that comes from Persis.

Chap. 16.—Magydaris.

There is another [The whole of this paragraph has been borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. iii.] variety of this plant, known as “magydaris,” [Sprengel takes this to be the Laserpitium ferulaceum of Linnæus, but Fée thinks it is more than doubtful if the identity can be established.] of a more delicate nature, less active in its effects, and destitute of juice. It grows in the countries adjacent to Syria, [From Theophrastus. Dioscorides says, on the other hand, that it grows in Libya.] but is not to be found in the regions of Cyrenaica. There grows also upon Mount Parnassus, [From Littré we learn that M. Fraas has suggested that the Magydaris and Laserpitium are possibly the Ferula Tingitana, and the Ptychotis verticillata of Decandolle, which last he has found upon high mountains in the lower region of pines, on Mount Parnassus, among others.] in great abundance, a plant to which some persons give the name of “laserpitium:” by means of all these varieties, adulterations are effected of a production that is held in the highest esteem for its salutary qualities and its general usefulness. The chief proofs of its genuineness consist in its colour, which ought to be slightly red without, and when broken quite white and transparent within; the drops of it, too, should melt very rapidly on the application of spittle. It is extensively employed for medicinal purposes. [See B. xxii. cc.,.]

Chap. 17.—Madder.

There are two other plants also, which are but little known to any but the herd of the sordid and avaricious, and this because of the large profits that are derived from them. The first of these is madder, [The Rubia tinctorum of Linnæus.] the employment of which is necessary in dyeing wool and leather. The madder of Italy is the most esteemed, and that more particularly which is grown in the suburbs of the City; nearly all our provinces, too, produce it in great abundance. [Dioscorides speaks of the madder of Ravenna as being the most esteemed. It is much cultivated at the present day in the South of France, Holland, and the Levant. That of Lille enjoys a high reputation.] It grows spontaneously, but is capable of reproduction by sowing, much after the same manner as the fitch. The stem, [It is covered with bristly hairs, or rather, fine, hooked teeth. There is, however, no resemblance whatever between it and ervilia or orobus, the fitch.] however, is prickly, and articulated, with five leaves arranged round each joint: the seed is red. Its medicinal properties we shall have occasion to mention in the appropriate place. [B. xxiv. c. 56.]

Chap. 18.—The Radicula.

The plant known to us by the name of “radicula,” [Or “little root;” though, in reality, as Pliny says, it had a large root. Some writers have supposed, that by this name is meant the Reseda luteola of Linnæus, the “dyer’s weed” of the moderns; but neither Pliny nor any of the Greek writers mention the Radicula as being used for dyeing. Some, again, identify it with the Gypsophila struthium of Linnæus, without sufficient warranty, however, as Fée thinks.] is the second of these productions. It furnishes a juice that is extensively employed in washing wool, and it is quite wonderful how greatly it contributes to the whiteness and softness of wool. It may be produced anywhere by cultivation, but that which grows spontaneously in Asia and Syria, [The Gypsophila struthium grows in Spain, and possibly, Fée says, in other countries. Linnæus has “pretended,” he says, that the Spaniards still employ the root and stalk of the Gypsophila for the same purposes as the ancients did the same parts of the Radicula. He himself, however, though long resident in Spain, had never observed such to be the fact.] upon rugged, rocky sites, is more highly esteemed. That, however, which is found beyond the Euphrates has the highest repute of all. The stalk of it is ferulaceous [This description, Fée says, does not correspond with that of the Gypsophila struthium, the stalk of which does not at all resemble that of the ferulaceous plants, and the leaf is quite different in appearance from that of the olive.] and thin, and is sought by the inhabitants of those countries as an article of food. It is employed also for making unguents, being boiled up with the other ingredients, whatever they may happen to be. In leaf it strongly resembles the olive. The Greeks have given it the name of “struthion.” It blossoms in summer, and is agreeable to the sight, but entirely destitute of smell. It is somewhat thorny, and has a stalk covered with down. It has an extremely diminutive seed, and a large root, which is cut up and employed for the purposes already mentioned.

Chap. 19. (4.)—The Pleasures of the Garden.

Having made mention of these productions, it now remains for us to return to the cultivation of the garden, [As Fée observes, by the word “hortus” the Romans understood solely the “vegetable” or “kitchen-garden;” the pleasure garden being generally denominated “horti.”] a subject recommended by its own intrinsic merits to our notice: for we find that in remote antiquity, even, there was nothing looked upon with a greater degree of admiration than the gardens of the Hesperides, [See B. v. c. 1.] those of the kings Adonis [A fabulous king of Phœnicia, probably, whose story was afterwards transferred, with considerable embellishments, to the Grecian mythology. Adonis is supposed to have been identical with the Thammuz of Scripture, mentioned by Ezekiel, viii. 14, where he speaks of the “women weeping for Thammuz.” Hardouin considers him to have been a Syrian deity, identical with the Moon.] and Alcinoüs, [Celebrated by Homer, Od. B. vi. and xiii.] and the Hanging Gardens, whether they were the work of Semiramis, or whether of Cyrus, king of Assyria, a subject of which we shall have to speak in another work. [“Alio volumine.” As no further mention is made by Pliny of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, it is most probable that he contemplated giving a description of them in another work, an intention which he did not live to realize.] The kings of Rome cultivated their gardens with their own hands; indeed, it was from his garden that Tarquinius Superbus [See further on this subject, c. of the present Book.] sent to his son that cruel and sanguinary message of his. In our laws of the Twelve Tables, we find the word “villa,” or “farm,” nowhere mentioned; it is the word “hortus” that is always used with that signification, while the term “heredium” we find employed for “garden.”

There are certain religious impressions, too, that have been attached to this species of property, [The reading, “quam rem,” seems preferable to “quam ob rem,” adopted by Sillig.] and we find that it is in the garden and the Forum only that statues of satyrs are consecrated, as a protection against the evil effects [“Effascinationes.” The effects of the evil eye.] of spells and sorcery; although in Plautus, we find the gardens spoken of as being under the tutelage of Venus. At the present day, under the general name of gardens, [“Hortorum.” “Pleasure-gardens.”] we have pleasure-grounds situate in the very heart of the City, as well as extensive fields and villas.

Epicurus, that connoisseur [“Otii magister.”] in the enjoyments of a life of ease, was the first to lay out a garden at Athens; [For the purpose of teaching philosophy there.] up to his time it had never been thought of, to dwell in the country in the middle of the town. At Rome, on the other hand, the garden [“Hortus.” The “kitchen-garden.”] constituted of itself the poor man’s field, and it was from the garden that the lower classes procured their daily food—an aliment how guiltlessly obtained! But still, it is a great deal better, no doubt, [Ironically said.] to dive into the abysses of the deep, and to seek each kind of oyster at the risk and peril of shipwreck, to go searching for birds beyond the river Phasis [He alludes to the pheasant. See B. x. c. 67.] even, which, protected as they are by the terrors invented by fable, [He alludes to Colchis, the country of Medea, the scene of the exploits of Jason and the Argonauts, and the land of prodigies and fable.] are only rendered all the more precious thereby—to go searching for others, again, in Numidia, [See B. x. cc. 38 and 67. He alludes to “meleagrides,” or Guinea-fowls.] and the very sepulchres of Æthiopia, [See B. x. c. 37. He alludes to the birds called “Memnonides.”] or else to be battling with wild beasts, and to get eaten one’s self while trying to take a prey which another person is to eat! And yet, by Hercules! how little do the productions of the garden cost us in comparison with these! How more than sufficient for every wish and for every want!—were it not, indeed, that here, as in every thing else, turn which way we will, we find the same grounds for our wrath and indignation. We really might be content to allow of fruits being grown of the most exquisite quality, remarkable, some of them for their flavour, some for their size, some, again, for the monstrosities of their growth, morsels all of them forbidden to the poor! [See B. xvii. c. 1.] We might allow of wines being kept till they are mellowed with age, or enfeebled by being passed through [See B. xiv. c. 28.] cloth strainers, of men, too, however prolonged their lives, never drinking any but a wine that is still older than themselves! We might allow of luxury devising how best to extract the very aroma, as it were, and marrow [He alludes to the finest and most delicate kinds of wheaten flour. See B. xviii. c..] only from grain; of people, too, living upon nothing but the choicest productions of the confectioner, and upon pastes fashioned in fantastic shapes: of one kind of bread being prepared for the rich, and another for the multitude; of the yearly produce of the field being classified in a descending scale, till it reaches the humble means of the very lowest classes—but do we not find that these refined distinctions have been extended to the very herbs even, and that riches have contrived to establish points of dissimilarity in articles of food which ordinarily sell for a single copper coin? [“Uno asse.”]

In this department even, humble as it is, we are still destined to find certain productions that are denied to the community at large, and the very cabbages pampered to such an enormous extent that the poor man’s table is not large enough to hold them. Asparagus, by Nature, was intended to grow wild, [As “corruda,” or “wild asparagus.” The Brassica capitata alba of C. Bauhin, or white cabbage, sometimes attains a weight of ten or twelve pounds.] so that each might gather it where he pleased—but, lo and behold! we find it in the highest state of cultivation, and Ravenna produces heads that weigh as much as three pounds [This is an exaggeration, probably.] even! Alas for the monstrous excess of gluttony! It would be surprising indeed, for the beasts of the field to be forbidden the thistle for food, and yet it is a thing forbidden [He alludes to the artichoke, or Cinara cardunculus of the botanists, which bears some resemblance to the common thistle.] to the lower classes of the community! These refined distinctions, too, are extended to the very water even, and, thanks to the mighty influence of money, there are lines of demarcation drawn in the very elements themselves. Some persons are for drinking ice, others for quaffing snow, and thus is the curse of the mountain steep turned into an appetizing stimulus for the palate! [Martial and Aulus Gellius speak of ice and snow drinks. The latter must have been very injurious to the stomach.] Cold is carefully treasured up for the summer heats, and man’s invention is racked how best to keep snow freezing in months that are not its own. Some again there are who first boil the water, [See B. xxxi. c. 23.] and then bring it to the temperature of winter—indeed, there is nothing that pleases man in the fashion in which Nature originally made it.

And is it the fact, then, that any herb of the garden is reared only for the rich man’s table? It is so—but still let no one of the angered populace think of a fresh secession to Mount Sacer or Mount Aventine; for to a certainty, in the long run, all-powerful money will bring them back to just the same position as they were in when it wrought the severance. For, by Hercules! [In this corrupt and otherwise unintelligible passage, we have adopted the proposed emendations of Sillig, who is of opinion that it bears reference to the abolition of the market-dues, or “portorium,” by Augustus Cæsar, and the substitution of a property tax of one twentieth of the land, a method of taxation which inflicted greater hardships than the former one, as it was assessed according to the superficies, not the produce of the land. His proposed emendations of the text are as follows: “mox enim certe æquabit eos pecunia quos pecunia separaverit. Itaque——ac minore fortunæ jure, quam cum hereditate datur pensio ea pauperum; his in solo sponsor est,” &c.] there was not an impost levied at Rome more grievous than the market-dues, an impost that aroused the indignation of the populace, who repeatedly appealed with loud clamours to all the chief men of the state to be relieved from it. At last they were relieved from this heavy tax upon their wares; and then it was found that there was no tax more lucrative, more readily collected, or less obnoxious to the caprices of chance, than the impost that was levied in exchange for it, in the shape of a property-tax, extended to the poorest classes: for now the very soil itself is their surety that paid the tax will be, their means are patent to the light of day, and the superficial extent of their possessions, whatever the weather may chance to be, always remains the same.

Cato, [De Re Rust. cc. 156, 157. He speaks of it as being eaten either boiled or raw, but in the latter case with vinegar. Fée thinks that even then it would make a very acrid and indigestible diet.] we find, speaks in high praise of garden cabbages:—indeed, it was according to their respective methods of garden cultivation that the agriculturists of early times were appreciated, and it was immediately concluded that it was a sign of a woman being a bad and careless manager of her family, when the kitchen-garden—for this was looked upon as the woman’s department more particularly—was negligently cultivated; as in such case her only resource was, of course, the shambles or the herb-market. But cabbages were not held in such high esteem in those days as now: indeed, all dishes were held in disrepute which required something else to help them down, the great object being to economize oil as much as possible; and as to the flesh-market, so much as a wish even to taste its wares was visited with censure and reproach. The chief thing that made them so fond of the garden was the fact that its produce needs no fire and ensures economy in fuel, and that it offers resources which are always ready and at hand. These articles of food, which from their peculiar nature we call “vinegar-diets,” [“Acetaria.” Salads.] were found to be easy of digestion, by no means apt to blunt and overload the senses, and to create but little craving for bread as an accompaniment. A portion of them which is still used by us for seasonings, attests that our forefathers used only to look at home for their resources, and that no Indian peppers were in request with them, or any of those other condiments which we are in the habit of seeking beyond the seas. In former times the lower classes of Rome, with their mimic gardens in their windows, day after day presented the reflex of the country to the eye, when as yet the multitudes of atrocious burglaries, almost innumerable, had not compelled us to shut out all such sights with bars to the passers by.

Let the garden, then, have its due meed of honour, and let not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less share of our consideration—and the more so, as we find that from it men of the very highest rank have been content to borrow their surnames even; thus in the Valerian family, for instance, the Lactucini have not thought themselves disgraced by taking their name from the lettuce. Perhaps, too, our labours and research may contribute some slight recommendation to this our subject; although, with Virgil, [He alludes, no doubt, to the words of Virgil, in Georg. iv. l. 6. “In tenui labor, at tenuis non Gloria——” though in that instance the poet is speaking of bees.] we are ready to admit how difficult it is, by language however elevated, to ennoble a subject that is so humble in itself.