229 



Sharp-tasted citron Median climes produce, 

 Bitter the rind, but gen'rous is the juice; 

 A cordial fruit, a present antidote 

 Against the direful stepdame's deadly draught, 

 Who, mixing wicked weeds with words impure, 

 The fate of envied orphans would procure. 

 Large is the plant, and like a laurel grows, 

 And, did it not a diff'rent scent disclose, 

 A laurel 'twere : the fragrant flow'rs contemn 

 The stormy winds, tenacious of their stem ; 

 With this, the Medes to laboring age bequeath 

 New lungs, and cure the sourness of the breath. 



Dryden. 



The lemon-tree appears to have been 

 cultivated in this country as early as the reign 

 of James the First, as Lord Bacon mentions 

 the housing of hot country plants, as lemons., 

 oranges, and myrtles, to save them. 



In some parts of Devonshire, lemon-trees 

 are trained to the walls, and require no other 

 care than to cover them with straw or mats 

 during the winter. Earl Paulet presented 

 some of these lemons to his late Majesty 

 upwards of forty years ago, which grew in 

 the garden of his sister, Lady Bridget Bas- 

 tard, of Garston. The lemon- tree is of a 

 much hardier nature than the orange : it is 

 therefore brought to greater perfection in 

 this country than the latter fruit. Lemons 

 have long been propagated with success 

 in Italy, Spain, Portugal, ad the South 

 of France, as well as in the West-India 



