Sir TOlttam ftempte 105 



England ; which seem to have grown into such 

 vogue, and to have been so mightily improved 

 in three or four and twenty years of his Ma- 

 jesty's reign, that perhaps few countries are 

 before us, either in the elegance of our gardens, 

 or in the number of our plants ; and, I believe, 

 none equal us in the variety of fruits which may 

 be justly called good ; and from the earliest 

 cherry and strawberry, to the last apples and 

 pears, may furnish every day of the circling 

 year. For the taste and perfection of what we 

 esteem the best, I may truly say, that the 

 French, who have eaten my grapes and peaches 

 at Sheen, in no very ill year, have generally 

 concluded, that the last are as good as any they 

 have eaten in France, on this side of Fontaine- 

 bleau ; and the first as good as any they have eat 

 in Gascony ; I mean those which come from the 

 stone, and are properly called peaches, not 

 those which are hard, and are termed pavies ; 

 for these cannot grow in too warm a climate, 

 nor ever be good in a cold ; and are better at 

 Madrid, than in Gascony itself. Italians have 

 agreed, my white figs to be as good as any of 

 that sort in Italy, which is the earlier kind of 

 white fig there ; for in the latter kind, and the 

 blue, we cannot come near the warm climates, 

 no more than in the Frontignac or Muscat 

 grape. 



