136 OUE COMMON FBTJITS. 



green we*# yet dawning over the dark bareboughs of winter , 

 from among the earliest of leaves crept forth one of the 

 earliest of flowers ; but flaunting no brilliant hues to mark 

 it out amid the universal verdure, this hardy little pioneer 

 was attired, on true rifle brigade principles, in a garb 

 assimilating closely with its surroundings. Possessed of 

 neither beauty nor fragrance, it lived out its little life 

 unnoticed, perhaps, by one eye out of a hundred among 

 the many eagerly watching for the bloom of spring, but 

 connecting that idea solely with the snowy vestures of 

 the cherry and the pear-tree, or the richer glories of the 

 almond and apple. With the advancing season, however, 

 the outgrowth of those humble blossoms soon becomes 

 apparent, and being endowed, while yet immature, with 

 virtues beyond those of any of our other fruits in a similar 

 stage of progress, though not yet fit for the dessert, they 

 grace the dinner- table at least with a charm that has been 

 long absent, and our^gngKjgh feast of first-fruits is there- 

 fore always a feast of ,, Gooseberries. 



The botanical name JRibes, shared in common by both 

 gooseberries and currants, is an Arabic title originally be- 

 stowed on them through a mistake, for the description given 

 by Arab botanists of the plant to which they had given 

 this appellation, seemed to apply so well to our fruits that 

 they were classed with it, and as the Europeans had not 

 seen the real Hibes, and the Arabians never came in con- 

 tact with the gooseberry or currant, neither party dis- 

 covered the error that had been fallen into until it had 

 continued too long for the name to be altered, though the 

 distinct nature of the respective plants has been long 

 since ascertained, and even a cook-maid would hardly now 

 suspect that rhubarb (the Arab Ribes] had anything in 

 common with the gooseberry beyond the similarity of 

 flavour in the tarts made from them. The surname of the 

 latter species grossularia is said to be derived from the 

 resemblance of the fruit to little unripe figs, called Gros- 

 suli, whence, too, comes the French Groseille, the Scotch 

 Grozer or Grozet, and, according to some, our name Goose- 

 berry also, though the latter is more generally considered 

 to have been corrupted from ^orse-berry, on account of 



