FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES 47 



He gives the name of a pear, evidently newly introduced, in 

 the same description : 



' ' She was wel more blisf ul on to see 

 Than is the newe perjenete tree." 



Wardens were still the most popular of cooking varieties. In 

 recipes for dressing pears, the Wardon is usually intended, as^ 

 " Peris in Syrippe, Take Wardons, and cast hem in a fair 

 potte," or " Peris in Compost. Take pere Wardons and pare 

 hem." At Henry IV. 's wedding-feast these pears in syrup 

 occur twice, and are included in the same course as venison, 

 quails, sturgeon, fieldfare, etc. At the coronation feast of the 

 same King we find quinces in " comfy te," and also " Pome- 

 dorreing," or golden apple, supposed in this case to stand for 

 oranges, as this rare fruit might be obtained for such a great 

 occasion. Oranges probably were occasionally brought to this 

 country at an even earlier date. It is said that in the eighteenth 

 year of Edward I. the Queen bought, out of the cargo of a 

 large Spanish ship, one frail of figs, one of raisins, one bale of 

 dates, two hundred and thirty pomegranates, fifteen citrons, 

 and seven oranges.^ 



Cherries were cultivated very extensively. The season of 

 gathering them is spoken of by Langland as " cherry-time." 

 This cherry-harvest, coming at the height of summer, was a 

 time of merry-making, and to it Gower compares the brief 

 length of human life, which 



"... endureth but a throw 

 Right as it were a cherry feast." 



Confessio Amantis. 



And Lydgate also uses the cherry-fair as a simile : 



" This world is but a cherry fair." 



Cherries and strawberries were hawked in the streets of 

 London, and the cry of " Ripe strawberries !" was familiar even 

 in Lydgate's time : 



" Then vnto London I dyd me hyc 

 Of all the land it beareth the pryse 



^ Harl. MS. 4016, E. E. Text. Soc. 



^ Manners and Household Expenses, ed. Beriah Botfield, Roxburghe 

 Club, 1 84 1. 



