318 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



" The first China Orange," says Evelyn, " which ap- 

 peared in Europe, was sent a present to the old Conde 

 Mellor, then prime minister to the king of Portugal ; but 

 of the whole case sent to Lisbon, there was but one plant 

 which escaped the being so spoiled and tainted, that, with 

 great care, it hardly recovered to be since become the pa- 

 rent of all those flourishing trees of that name cultivated 

 by our gardeners, though not without sensibly dege- 

 nerating. Receiving this account from the illustrious son 

 of the Conde, I thought fit to mention it for an instance of 

 what industry may produce in less than half an age." 



Mickle, in the History of the Portuguese Empire in 

 Asia, prefixed to his translation of the Lusiad, informs us 

 " that the famous John de Castro, the Portuguese con- 

 queror in Asia, was said to have been the first who brought 

 the Orange-tree to Europe, and to have esteemed this gift 

 to his country as the greatest of lu's actions." He adds, 

 " that Orange-trees are still preserved at Cintra, in me- 

 morial of the place where he first planted that valuable 

 fruitage." 



The Orange-tree is thought to produce more fruit, if 

 deprived of some of its blossoms. Rapin, in his Poem on 

 Plants, recommends that the nymphs should be allowed, 

 unchecked, to pluck the silvery blossoms, to adorn their 

 bosoms and their vases. " Let your wife, your children, 

 your whole family be there," says he, " and let them bear 

 away a portion of the fragrant spoils." 



The Orange is supposed to be the golden apple pre- 

 sented to Jupiter by Juno on the day of their nuptials. 

 These apples could be preserved nowhere but in the gar- 

 dens of the Hesperides, where they were protected by 

 three nymphs, bearing that name, the daughters of Hes- 

 perus; and by a more effectual and appalling guard, a 

 never-sleeping dragon. It was one of the labours of Her- 



