258 EOSACE^ 



almost regard it as a fact recorded there ; and some, who forget that in the 

 eyes of God the motive of an action constitutes either its worth or its guilt, 

 treat lightly the sin of our first parents, and speak of eating the apple as a 

 small matter. But the apple has no more claim to be considered the for- 

 bidden fruit than has the shaddock, which has long been sold under that 

 name, or than that fruit which the sages of Ceylon j^ronounce to be forbidden 

 to human taste. These priests having proved to their own satisfaction that 

 Ceylon was the site of Paradise, assert that the fruit was borne on a tree 

 which they call Divi Laclner. This they infer not alone from the extreme 

 beauty of the fruit and the sweetness of the flower, but from the conclusive 

 fact that the former still bears the marks of the teeth of Eve. The fruit is 

 now poisonous, but they add that previously to Eve's transgression it was 

 delicious. 



The Apple is often mentioned by the Scripture writers, and the tree 

 grows in Palestine, but produces good fruit only in one or two places of that 

 land, as at Lebanon. The citron is probably the tree intended, as it is 

 among the most valuable of the fruits of Palestine, and would be fitted to 

 occupy the place which the prophet Joel gives it among the vine, the fig, 

 the pomegranate, and the palm. 



The Apple-tree is not remarkable either for size or longevity, and in an 

 old orchard the Pear-trees far outlive those of the Apple, though occasionally 

 we find one of the latter attaining consideraljle age. 



The fruits boiled, baked, dried, roasted, or made into tarts and jellies, 

 need no praises, and besides these pui-poses to which apples are commonly 

 applied, it has been ascertained by M. Duduit de Maizieres, that one-third 

 of boiled apple-pulp baked with two-thirds of flour, having been previously 

 fermented with yeast for twelve hours, will make a very palatable, light, and 

 nutritious bread. A summer beverage, called apple-wine, is also very good, 

 though not equal to cider. An elegant chalybeate has been obtained from a 

 solution of iron, which exists in the juice of the golden renet. The famous 

 winter beverage of our forefathers, termed lambswool, was the grand ingre- 

 dient of the wassail-bowl. Archdeacon Nares has preserved the following 

 recipe for its composition : " The pulpe of the roested apple, in number four 

 or five, according to the greatness of the apples (especially the pomewater), 

 mixed in a wine quart of faire water, laboured together imtill it comes to 

 be as apples and ale, which we call lambswool." In Herrick's "Hesperides" 

 we find an allusion to this frequent beverage :— 



"Next crown the bowl full 

 With gentle lanibs-wooll, 

 Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger, 

 With store of ale too." 



Gerarde, referring to the uses of the apple, says, "There is an ointment 

 made with the pulp of apples and swine's grease, and rose-water, which is 

 used to beautify the face, and take away the roughness of the skin ; it is 

 called in shops pomatum, of the apple whereof it is made." Our modern 

 pomades and pomatums, the offsprings of this, cannot, however, boast the 

 apple as an ingredient. 



The use of apples was commended in " splenaticke " and melancholy dis- 



