166 APPLE OF SODOM. 



MRS. F. 



So it isr'it is interesting to me, because I gathered the seed 

 at Paestum; and this Solanum owes its specific name (Sodo- 

 meum} to its being supposed to produce the fabled apples of 

 Sodom, or of the Dead Sea, which were fair without, and 

 within ashes and bitterness. This plant may well merit 

 such a designation; for the fruit is round, of a bright orange 

 color, pleasing to the eye, but within dry and husky: and 

 therefore no unfit representative of 



" The apples on the Dead Sea's shore, 



All ashes to the taste,"* 



Or of the 



" Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye, 

 But turn to ashes on the lips."t 



ESTHER. 



Milton also alludes to the apples of the Dead Sea, when 

 he says, 



" Instead of fruit, 



Chew'd bitter ashes. "$ 



And Josephus mentions them, in his account of the Lake 

 Asphaltites, as appearing fit to be eaten, but, if plucked with 

 the hand, they dissolved into smoke and ashes. 



HENRIETTA. 



Aunt, how very fine your stocks are. 

 MRS. F. 



Yes, they are very beautiful. I have the seed from Ham- 

 burgh. 



ESTHER. 



I have heard that the great secret in the superiority of the 



* Childe Harold, iii. 34 f Moore. 



\ Paradise Lost, book x. 



