278 SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



The .fruit must, indeed, be very superior to that of 

 our oaks, for no English lover would pride himself upon 

 feeding his mistress with acorns, and call them the 

 sweetest of sweet kernels. This must be the tree of 

 which the poet speaks : it would be yet more strange to 

 feed her with holly-berries than with English acorns ; 

 and it has been observed that in France, Spain, &c. 

 acorns are eaten as nuts. They are described as really 

 sweet and pleasant ; and, were they not so, tastes differ 

 no less than fruits ; and we are told that in old times the 

 beech-nut was thought preferable to the sweet chestnut ; 

 and some writers passed their jokes upon the singular 

 care with which so useless and undesirable a kernel as 

 the latter was defended from injury by its armed shell. 

 Gerarde, too, calls the horse-chestnut a sweet and pleasant 

 food : if he spoke this from experience, and not from mere 

 conjecture or hearsay, we need not wonder that acorns of 

 any kind should be considered as a luxury. 



Strabo says, that in the mountainous parts of Spain, 

 the inhabitants ground their acorns into meal ; and Pliny 

 affirms, that in his time acorns were brought to table 

 with the dessert, in Spain. Cervantes, too, describes 

 Theresa as collecting the best acorns she could find, to 

 send as a present to the duchess. 



Garcilasso again mentions the Ilex, in company with 

 the Oak commonly so called : 



" But in calm idlesse laid, 

 Supine in the cool shade 

 Of oak, or ilex, beech, or pendant pine, 

 Sees his flocks feeding stray 

 Whitening a length of way, 

 Or numbers up his home ward- tending kine." 



P. 198, 



