204 Mr. J. Hardy on the Antiquity of some Border Pears. 



Pear, and the citrons produced in consequence were partly 

 Citron and partly Pear. The inventor made a secret of 

 this discovery for a long time, and was enriched by it** 



3. St. Catherine. St. Catherine Pears are mentioned 

 by Gerard. Johnson, in his edition, 1633, says his author 

 had misapplied the name, and he rectified it, and so " pluckt 

 a peare" with him. Parkinson, in the " Paradisus," 1629, 

 gives several varieties of Catherines. J. Bauhin, 1613, 

 mentions a kind called the " Pira S. CatharinaB," as growing 

 in the Brisgau, in the splendid stronghold of the illustrious 

 Knights of Rhodes. Mouffett, 1655, tells us that "the 

 Katherin Pear is simply best, and best relished.''-^ Fruits 

 were dedicated to the saints from their being in season about 

 their anniversary feasts. There were several St. Catherines. 



4. Musk Pear. Of this, the " Muscat " and "Muscadelle" 

 of the French, there are divers varieties. Some say they 

 are the " Superba " of Pliny, while others assign them to the 

 " Myrapia." They grew in the Italian, French, and German 

 gardens during the middle ages, and are referred to by all 

 early writers : Ruellius, Curtius, Agostino Gallus, "Dale- 

 champ, Matthiolus, Csesalpinus, H. Junius (who makes them 

 Pliny's " Hordearia "), V. Cordus (great attention being 

 bestowed on them in Misnia), &c. Ruellius says that the 

 popular French name for them was " Chia," or Pears of Chio, 

 which indicates an early traffic in fruit with the Archipelago, 

 and this is confirmed by another Pear being designated the 

 " Greek Pear " by the common people. J. Bod. a Stapel 

 states that they were so scarce in his country at the time 

 when he wrote, in 1635, that he did not believe that there 

 were more than three trees in Holland or the circumjacent 

 regions. He gives a further proof of its rarity by advertis- 

 ing that he had been promised a bush, and it is to be hoped 

 that he was not disappointed |. This sort had reached 

 England in 1629, for Parkinson § says in its praise : " The 

 Muske Peare is like unto a Catherine Peare for bignesse, 

 colour, and forme ; but far more excellent in taste, as the 

 very name importeth." It is a joke more refined than the 

 Barmecide's to taste Pears by the name. 



5. Green Chisel. This is the " Poire d' Hativeau " of 



* "Diet. Hist. Nat.," ,ii., p. 20. 



f " Health's Improvement," p. 210. 



% "Theophrasti Hist. Plant." p. 394, 395. 



§ " Paradisus," p. 592. 



