PEA. .') 1 



Stike plentie of bowes, among runcival pease, 

 to clamber thereon, and to branch at their ease : 



So doing more tender and greater they wex, 



if peacocke and turkey, leave jobbing their bex." 



Yet garden peas appear to have been rare in 

 the early part of Elizabeth's reign, as Fuller 

 observes they were seldom seen, except those 

 which were brought from Holland, and 

 " these," says he, " were dainties for ladies, 

 they came so far and cost so dear;" but in 

 the latter part of her reign, gardening had 

 made considerable progress, and, taking into 

 consideration how little it had been pre- 

 viously studied, her days produced the most 

 complete Herbalist (take him on the whole) 

 that has ever written in these kingdoms. 

 Gerard's work is as excellent as it is volumi- 

 nous, being free from those astrological ab- 

 surdities that disgrace the Herbals of Cul- 

 pepper, and others who wrote about the time 

 of the Commonwealth. A mind like Gerard's 

 would be above such ridiculous superstition, 

 and would know that a knowledge of herbs 

 would be sooner gained by looking down to 

 examine the plants, than by looking up to 

 observe the planets. This latter author in- 

 forms us, that one variety of the pea is indi- 

 genous to this country : he says, " the wilde 



E 2 



