Sir William Cemple 131 



and so agreeable to the stomach, as good and 

 well-ripened fruits ; for this I make the meas- 

 ure of their being good : and, let the kinds be 

 what they will, if they will not ripen perfectly 

 in our climate, they are better never planted, 

 or never eaten. I can say it for myself at least, 

 and all my friends, that the season of summer 

 fruits is ever the season of health with us, which 

 I reckon from the beginning of June to the end 

 of September ; and for all sicknesses of the 

 stomach (from which most others are judged to 

 proceed), I do not think any that are, like me, 

 the most subject to them, shall complain when- 

 ever they eat thirty or forty cherries before 

 meals, or the like proportion of strawberries, 

 white figs, soft peaches, or grapes perfectly 

 ripe. But these after Michaelmas I do not think 

 wholesome with us, unless attended by some fit 

 of hot and dry weather, more than is usual 

 after that season ; when the frosts or the rain 

 hath taken them, they grow -dangerous, and 

 nothing but the autumn and winter pears are 

 to be reckoned in season, besides apples, which, 

 with cherries, are of all others the most inno- 

 cent food, and perhaps the best physic. Now 

 whoever will be sure to eat good fruit must do 

 it out of a garden of his own ; for, besides the 

 choice so necessary in the sorts, the soil, and so 

 many other circumstances that go to compose a 



