AN INVADER 287 



reserved than our own, ever mention the virtues of the 

 haricot ? No ; they are absolutely silent concerning the 

 trumpet-voiced vegetable. 



The name of the bean is a matter for reflection. It 

 is of an unfamiliar sound, having no affinity with our 

 language. By its unlikeness to our native combinations 

 of sounds, it makes one think of the West Indies or 

 South America, as do caoutchouc and cacao. Does the 

 word as a matter of fact come from the American 

 Indians ? Did we receive, together with the vegetable, 

 the name by which it is known in its native country ? 

 Perhaps ; but how are we to know ? Haricot, fantastic 

 haricot, you set us a curious philological problem. 



It is also known in French as faseole, or flageolet. 

 The Provengal calls it faiou and favioii ; the Catalan, 

 fayol ; the Spaniard, faseolo ; the Portuguese, feydo ; the 

 Italian, fagiuolo. Here I am on familiar ground : the 

 languages of the Latin family have preserved, with the 

 inevitable modifications, the ancient word faseolus. 



Now, if I consult my dictionary I find : faselus, 

 faseolus, phaseolus, haricot. Learned lexicographer, 

 permit me to remark that your translation is incorrect : 

 faselus, faseolus ca.nnoi mean haricot. The incontestable 

 proof is in the Georgics, where Virgil tells us at what 

 season we must sow the faselus. He says :-~ 



Si vero viciamque seres vilemque faselum . . 

 Haud obscura cadens mittet tibi signa Bootes ; 

 Incipe, et ad medias sementem extende pruinas. 



Nothing is clearer than the precept of the poet who 

 was so admirably familiar with all matters agricultural ; 

 the sowing of the faselus must be commenced when 



