EGG PLANT. 1 8 1 



Gerard says, in the first edition of his Herbal, 

 " This plant groweth in Egypt almost euery- 

 where, in sandie fieldes, euen of itselfe, 

 bringing foorth fruite of the bigness of a 

 great cucumber. We haue had the same in 

 our London gardens, where it hath borne 

 flowers, but the winter approaching before 

 the time of ripening, it perished ; notwith- 

 standing it came to beare fruite of the bigness 

 of a goose egge, one extraordinarie tempe- 

 rate yeere, as I did see in the garden of a 

 worshipfull merchant, Master Haruie, in 

 Lime-street, but neuer to full ripeness." 

 " It is better," continues this author, " to 

 haue this plante in the garden, for your 

 pleasure, and the rarenesse thereof, than for 

 any virtue or good qualities yet known. I 

 rather wish Englishmen to content them- 

 selues with the meate and sauce of our own 

 countrey, than with fruite and sauce eaten 

 with such perill : for, doubtless, these apples 

 have a mischeeuous quality ; the use thereof 

 is vtterly to be forsaken." 



With this caution, we cannot be surprised 

 that the Melongena should have been in our 

 gardens for two hundred and twenty years 

 without reaching our tables. 



