The Medlar and the Pine- Apple. 145 



shew how far more extensive than in these 

 days was the utilisation of the quince, not 

 only for preserving purposes, but for the 

 manufacture of wine. 



The medlar occurs under January 2nd, 

 1498-9, in the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry 

 VII., where 3^. 4^. is given to Sir Charles 

 Somerset to reimburse him for some medlars 

 and warden pears, which he had received for 

 the king at Westminster. 



This old-fashioned fruit, which seems to 

 have been in great vogue with former genera- 

 tions, had a popular name, which supplies 

 the pith of one or two stories in the Jest- 

 Books, but which is scarcely reproducible. 



The picture, formerly at Strawberry Hill, 

 which represents Rose, the royal gardener, 

 presenting to Charles II. a pine-apple 

 or ananas, is the earliest testimony to the 

 native cultivation of that plant, in which the 

 English growers still maintain a pre-eminence. 

 Attention to it was doubtless drawn by 

 specimens imported from America, where, as 

 in any other climate which is at once warm 

 and moist, it flourishes without care, but 



TO 



