THE CHARM OF GARDENS 



that it is in. And in that same garden, Saint Peter 

 denied our Lord thrice. 



" Afterward was our Lord led forth before the bishops 

 and the masters of the law, into another garden of 

 Annas ; and there also he was examined, reproved, 

 and scorned, and crowned eft with a Sweet Thorn, that 

 men clepeth Barbarines, that grew in that garden, and 

 that hath also many virtues. 



" And after he was led into a garden of Caiphas, and 

 then he was crowned with Aglantine. 



" And after he was led into the chamber of Pilate, 

 and there he was examined and crowned. And the 

 Jews set him in a chair, and clad him in a mantle ; 

 and there made they the crown of jonkes of the sea ; 

 and there they kneeled to him, and scorned him, saying, 

 ' Ave, Rex Judeoram ! ' That is to say, ' Hail, King 

 of Jews ! ' And of this crown, half is at Paris, and 



the other half at Constantinople." 



» * » • * 



From these fanciful byways Sir John goes on his way 

 looking, as before, for curious things, and for marvels 

 of trees and fruits. He tells of the fine plate of gold 

 writ by Hermogenes, the wise man who foretold the 

 birth of Christ. He passes the Isles of Colcos and of 

 Lango where the daughter of Ypocras is yet in the form 

 of a dragon. And he goes by the town of Jaffa — " for 

 one of the sons of Noah, that bright Japhet, founded 

 it, and now it is called Joppa. And ye shall under- 

 stand, that it is one of the oldest towns of the world, 

 for it was founded before Noah's flood. And yet 

 there sheweth in the rock, there as the iron chains were 

 fastened, that Andromeda, a great giant was bounden 

 with, and put in prison before Noah's flood, of the 

 which giant, is a rib of his side that is forty foot long." 



Then he finds in Egypt some curious Apples. 



186 



