144 OTJE COMMON" FRUITS. 



in the modification of matter, for they have established 

 societies to give prizes for new or improved sorts. M. 

 Forsyth devotes so much space and care to it in his 

 treatise, that it would appear they think as much of its cul- 

 ture as we do of that of the peach ; but as it is probable it 

 will with us always hold the very last place on the list of 

 cultivated fruits, we will not give it more importance than 

 it merits, as being allowed to occupy a few feet of soil in 

 our gardens, in order to supply us with fish-sauce ; though 

 it must be confessed that, thanks to the English, a few 

 sorts are worthy to grace any table. There is, however, 

 no French nomenclature to them, and we will not adopt 

 the English, not from pretension or conservatism, but be- 

 cause to call one sort Le Roi Georges, another M. Smith, 

 and another Madame Yong, all names very good and very 

 beautiful, no doubt, in English, would, in French, be sim- 

 ply ridiculous." It would certainly be no easy matter for 

 a foreigner to render the titles often given to prize goose- 

 berries; for "Jolly Angler," "Crown Bob," &c., &c., would 

 be rather puzzling to translate, and can scarcely claim to 

 be, even in English, "very good and very beautiful;" 

 indeed, the practice of choosing such slang-like denomi- 

 nations as figure not unfrequently among the 300 varie- 

 ties recognized by English growers, has been condemned 

 by the better class of our gardeners ; but even an ill- 

 chosen name is better than none at all, and in France the 

 hapless fruit has found no kind sponsor to bestow upon 

 it any distinctive appellation, and must be content to 

 share with the currant the common term Grroseille* Con- 

 sidering the fruit is so decidedly anti-Gallican, it is rather 

 curious to find that our favourite dish, gooseberry-fool, 

 must seek its etymology on the other side of the Chan- 

 nel, the latter word being derived from fouler, to press or 

 crush. 



It is most probable that the French judgment of goose- 

 berries is influenced in some measure by the same cause 

 which led the fox to his well-known conclusion concern- 

 ing another fruit ; for in the native specimens, the magnum 

 and the bonum seem never to be found in combination : 

 the one figured in Du Hamel as the largest, though in 



