222 BUSH-FRUITS 



tion to this fact, the fruit is not equal in flavor and quality to that 

 of our own species. Several passages in Shakespeare serve to 

 give a good idea of the social rank of the English blackberry : 



Falstaff.^If reasons were as plenty as Blackberries, I would 

 give no man a reason on compulsion." 



1st Henry IV., Act ii., Sc. 4. 



.Fatotajf. "Shall the blessed sun of Heaven prove a micher and eat 

 Blackberries?" 



1st Henry IV., Act ii., Sc. 4. 



Thersitef. "That same dog-fox Ulysses is not proved worth a 

 Blackberry." 



Troilus and Cressida, Act v., Sc. 4. 



In its early history, other qualities seem to have been con- 

 sidered more important than its fruit. According to Pliny, the 

 ancients were taught by means of the bramble bush how to prop- 

 agate trees by layers. It was, no doubt, held in greatest esteem, 

 however, for its supposed medicinal qualities. "The berries," 

 says Pliny, "are the food of man, and have a dessicative and 

 astringent virtue, and serve as a most appropriate remedy for the 

 gums and inflammation of the tonsils." Both the flowers and 

 berries were thought by the ancients to be remedies against even 

 the most venomous serpents. Pliny further states that "the juice 

 pressed out of young shoots, and reduced to the consistency of 

 honey, by standing in the sun, is a singular medicine taken in- 

 wardly, or applied outwardly, for all diseases of the mouth and 

 eyes, as well as for the quinsy." The roots, boiled in wine, were 

 esteemed one of the best astringents by Roman physicians, and 

 used in all diseases of the mouth. The leaves, pounded and 

 applied to ringworms and ulcers, were said to bring speedy relief. 

 Boerhave, a renowned physician at the beginning of the last cen- 

 tury, affirms that the roots, dug in February or March and boiled 

 with honey, are an excellent remedy against dropsy. In a work 

 entitled "A Niewe Herball, or Historic of Plantes," first written 

 by D. Eembert Dodoen, physician to the German emperor, and 

 afterward translated into French, then from French into English 

 by Gerard Dewes, in 1578, the "nature" of the blackberry is set 

 forth as follows: "The tender springes and new leaves of the 

 Bramble are colde and drie almost in the thirde degree, and 



