156 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



they call the month of February " sprout-cale ;" but long after their days 

 the cultivation of gardens was little attended to.* The religious, 

 being men of leisure, and keeping up a constant correspondence with 

 Italy, were the first people among us that had gardens and fruit-trees 

 in any perfection within the wall of their abbies t and priories. The 

 barons neglected every pursuit that did not lead to war or tend to the 

 pleasure of the chase. 



It was not till gentlemen took up the study of horticulture themselves 

 that the knowledge of gardening made such hasty advances. Lord 

 Cobham, Lord Ila, and Mr. Waller, of Beaconsfield, were some of the first 

 people of rank that promoted the elegant science of ornamenting with- 

 out despising the superintendence of the kitchen quarters and fruit walls. 



A remark made by the excellent Mr. Ray, in his " Tour of Europe," 

 at once surprises us, and corroborates what has been advanced above ; 

 for we find him observing so late as his days, that, " The Italians use 

 several herbs for sallets, which are not yet, or have not been but lately, 

 used in England, viz., selleri (celery), which is nothing else but the 

 sweet smallage ; the young shoots whereof, with a little of the head of 

 the root cut off, they eat raw with oil and pepper ; " and further adds : 

 " curled endive blanched is much used beyond seas ; and, for a raw 

 sallet, seemed to excel lettuce itself." Now this journey was under- 

 taken no longer ago than in the year 1663. I am, &c. 



LETTEE XXXYIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, Feb. 12th, 1778. 



" Forte puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, 

 Dixerat, ecquis adest ? et, adest, responderat echo, 

 Hie stupet ; utque aciem partes divisit in omnes ; 

 Voce, veni, clamat magna. Vocat ilia vocantem." J 



DEAR SIR, In a district so diversified as this, so full of hollow vales 

 and hanging woods, it is no wonder that echoes should abound. Many 

 we have discovered that return the cry of a pack of dogs, the notes of 

 a hunting-horn, a tunable ring of bells, or the melody of birds very 

 agreeably ; but we were still at a loss for a polysyllabical articulate 

 echo, till a young gentleman, who had parted from his company in a 



* As our Saxon ancestors called the month of February 'sprout-cale,' so the 

 names of many other months were equally significant : viz., March, Stormy 

 Month ; May, Trimilki, the cows being milked three times a-day ; June, Dig-and- 

 Weed Mouth; September, Barley Month," &c. MITFORD. 



t " In monasteries the lamp of knowledge continued to burn, however dimly. 

 In them men of business were formed for the state : the art of writing was 

 cultivated by the monks ; they were the only proficients in mechanics, gardening, 

 and architecture." DALRYMPLE'S Annals of Scotland. 



t " Chance parts the youth from his companions dear, 



He cries "Who's here ? " and Echo answei-s " Here ;" 



He stares around, and for a while stands dumb, 



Then shouts out, "Come," and Echo answers "Come." 



