HERBS CHIEFLY USED IN THE PAST 87 



either because it grows on sea-cliiFs, and so is appropriate 

 to the patron of fishermen, or more probably, because 

 it flourishes on rocks, and its roots strike deep into 

 the crevices. The French call it Herbe de St Pierre and 

 Pierce-Pierre, from its peculiar way of growing ; and the 

 Italians have the same name, but call it Finocchw marino 

 as well ; and this title, translated to Meer-finckell, was 

 also the German and Dutch name, according to Parkin- 

 son. It is strongly aromatic, " being of smell delightfule 

 and pleasant, and hath many fat and thicke leaves, some- 

 what like those of the lesser Purslane ... of a spicie 

 taste, with a certaine saltness." Gerarde praises it pickled 

 in salads. Edgar's words show that it must have been 

 popular in Elizabethan days, and so it was for more than 

 a hundred years after as "the pleasantest Sauce"; and 

 Evelyn considered it preferable to "most of our hotter 

 herbs," and " long wonder'd it has not long since been 

 cultivated in the Potagere as it is in France. It groweth on 

 the rocks that are often moistened, at the least, if not over- 

 flowed with the sea water," a verdict which tallies with 

 the saying that Samphire grows out of reach of the 

 waves, but within reach of the spray of every tide. I 

 have found it growing in much that position on rocks 

 on the seashore in Cornwall. Two other kinds of 

 Samphire, Golden Samphire {Inula Crithmifolid) and 

 Marsh Samphire {Salicornia Herbaced), are sometimes sold 

 as the true Samphire, but neither of them have so good 

 a flavour. 



Skirrets (Sium Slsnruni). 



The Skirret and the leek's aspiring kind, 

 The noxious poppy-quencher of the mind. 



The Salad. — Cowper. 



" This is that siser or skirret which Tiberius the 

 Emperour commanded to be conveied unto him from 

 Gelduba, a castle about the river of Rhine," and which 



