262 PRIZE GOOSEBERRIES. 



I beg to recommend particularly, for their rich 

 flavour, the Jubilee, Viper, Scorpion, Ocean, and the 

 Lancashire Lass : the taste of this last very much 

 resembles the greengage plum, a complete sweetmeat, 

 when ripened in a hot summer. 



If we may credit the account of some of the old 

 writers, England was not in possession of the Goose- 

 berry-tree till the reign of King Henry VIII., when 

 it was introduced from Flanders. About the same 

 time also, herbs for salads, carrots, cabbage, and 

 other vegetable plants and edible roots were intro, 

 duced, chiefly by the monks, who were ever attentive 

 to their temporal wants and enjoyments. They were 

 excellent judges in this respect, for you never find 

 any of the old monasteries or abbeys built in bleak 

 and barren situations, without water; but, on the 

 contrary, in rich vales, by the side of fine rivers,, 

 where the fertility of the soil could be turned to 

 good account, in the production of corn, fruits, and 

 vegetables, and in the rearing of domestic animals, 

 and where the waters might afford a good supply of 

 fine fish. Asparagus, cauliflowers, beans, and peas, 



