214 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



dry and burning regions; neither is it the offspring 

 of very frigid climes, since it is soon affected by cold, 

 severe weather, and the leaves become blackened by 

 the autumnal frosts. 



Historical evidence would make it appear that both 

 the pea and the bean must not only have been intro- 

 duced, but extensively cultivated in some parts of 

 Scotland, as well as in England, at a very early 

 period. It is on record, that when the English forces 

 were besieging a castle in Lothian, in the year 1299, 

 their supply of provisions was exhausted, and their 

 only resource was in the peas and beans of the sur- 

 rounding fields. This circumstance would lead to a 

 belief that the pea was then one of the staple articles 

 of produce for human food. 



The more delicate kinds, however, do not appear 

 to have been cultivated in England until a much 

 later period, since Fuller informs us that peas, in the 

 time of Queen Elizabeth, were brought from Holland, 

 and were ' fit dainties for ladies, they came so far, 

 and cost so dear.' In the reign of Henry VIII, too, 

 the pea would appear to be somewhat of a rarity, as 

 in the Privy Purse Expenses of that king is an entry, 

 ' paied to a man in rewarde for bringing pescodds to 

 the King's grace, iiijs, viiid. ' From a song, how- 

 ever, called ' London Lyckpeny,' made in the time of 

 Henry VI, peascods appear to have been commonly 

 sold in London: 



' Then unto London I dyde me hye, 

 Of all the land it bearyeth the pryse; 

 " Code pescode," one began to cry.' 

 At Windsor there is a street called ' Peascod,' men- 

 tioned by that name in old documents. 



The use of the pea as an esculent, both in its green 

 and its dried state, is too familiar to need description. 

 This plant is annually cultivated to a great extent in 

 Britain; perhaps, since the more general introduction 



