32 OUE COMMON FRUITS. 



In what points soever the two principal members of 

 the Pyrus family may resemble each other, most unlike are 

 they as regards the place they have held in the estimation 

 of man ; for while poetic fancy in different ages and far- 

 severed climes has everywhere invested the apple with so 

 many mystic charms, no extraneous associations diffuse 

 a halo of borrowed glory around the neglected pear no 

 graceful legend plants it in celestial gardens, gives it to 

 the guardianship of god or goddess, or links its name 

 with the adventures of the daring heroes or loving nymphs 

 of antiquity. There are few fruits, indeed, of whose his- 

 tory so little is known, though it appears to have been 

 common from time immemorial in Syria, Egypt, and 

 Greece, passing probably from the latter country into 

 Italy. Homer names it as forming part of the orchard 

 of Laertes, and Virgil alludes to having received some 

 pears from Cato : indeed, 36 varieties were known to the 

 [Romans, including the singularly -named " Proud Pears," 

 so called because they ripened early and would not keep 

 long; " Libralia" or pound-weight pears, &c., &c. ; but 

 we may imagine that none could have been fruit of very 

 fine quality, or they could hardly have merited Pliny's 

 conclusive assertion that " all pears whatsoever are but 

 heavy meat unless they be well boiled or baked." But 

 little mention is made of the fruit in our own history, 

 and as pear-trees are often found growing wild through- 

 out the country, it is by some thought to be indigenous, 

 while others believe it to be only native to more genial 

 climes, and to have been first brought here by the Romans. 

 There is no doubt that pears of some sort were eaten by 

 our remote ancestors, though probably they were of no 

 very excellent quality, for a very old English writer pro- 

 nounces upon them a similar verdict to that of Pliny ; 

 but in the days of Henry VIII. some at least were ad- 

 mitted to even the royal table, since an item is found in 

 his accounts of " 2d. to an old woman who gaff the kyng 

 peres," and another of 3s. 4<d. for " wardens and medlars ;" 

 the "warden," a baking pear, so named, it is said, from 

 its keeping property, being one of our oldest known 

 varieties, once extensively cultivated by " the monks of 



