The Cherry. 77 



true. The voluptuous consul simply introduced a fine 

 variety, unknown to the imperial city before his time. 

 The interesting fact remains that while the old town 

 in Pontus got its name from the cherry-trees round 

 about, in "cerasus" we have the parent, first, of the 

 French ceVisier and ce'rise, and eventually of the English 

 " cherry," which, by the way, ought by rights to be spelt 

 cherris or cheris. The established spelling came of our 

 forefathers confounding the s with the sign usually 

 employed in English to mark plurals. The very same 

 mistake was made over the name of the vegetable in 

 Latin called pisum, French pois, properly in English a 

 " peas," plural " peasen " 



" He talked of turnips and of peasen, 

 And set good seed in proper season. " 



England probably owed its earliest garden cherries 

 to the Romans. When the Romans quitted the country, 

 the culture would be continued by the Anglo-Saxons, 

 and subsequently it would be in favour with the Nor- 

 mans. History is silent, nevertheless, in regard to this 

 pleasant fruit up to the time of Henry V., when cherries, 

 as shown by some old verses in Warton, were cried 

 for sale in the streets of London. The famous cherry- 

 orchards of Kent appear to date, historically, from the 

 time of Henry VIII., but, had we the record, they would 

 probably be found to have had a very much earlier 

 beginning; and the same would probably prove to be true 

 in regard to the celebrated cherry-orchards of Bucking- 

 hamshire, where the beech-woods also abound with the 



