THE PINE -APPLE. 251 



taste, perhaps because it is the only one we possess which 

 is quite free from acidity. To " make the fig," however, 

 "faire lafigue" is a general mode of insult in many parts 

 of Europe where figs themselves are held in high esteem, 

 and is traced back to rather distant times, though its 

 origin seems involved in obscurity. It consists in thrust- 

 ing the thumb, inserted between two closed fingers, into 

 the mouth, and was once a common usage in this country 

 also, but is now modified into "snapping of fingers," 

 after having passed through the transitionary stage of 

 " biting the thumb," alluded to in Borneo and Juliet, where 

 the quarrelling servants adopt this mode of venting their 

 angry feelings towards each other. To show that this 

 thumb-biting was identical with "fig making," Knight 

 quotes a passage from Lodge's Wifs Miserie : " Behold, 

 I see contempt marching forth, giving me the fico with 

 his thumb in his mouth ! " 



But, however sanctioned by the custom of centuries, it 

 is really so great an injustice to our honourable friend the 

 fig to make use of its name in any way but respectfully, 

 that it may be permitted to divert one sentence at least 

 in which it occurs from the original sense intended to be 

 conveyed ; and therefore, in the words of Shakespeare, but 

 with meaning far different to Shakespeare's, we present 

 to the reader, " Figo for thy friendship." 



CHAPTEE XX. 

 THE PINE-APPLE. 



" THE king never dies," is an axiom no less true in the 

 fructal monarchy than in the monarchy of Britain, for a 

 fruit of no season, or rather of all seasons, is the regal 

 Pine, on whose head the crown, held indeed by right 



