86 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES 



" Onions as a relish to the wine " were among the 

 few dainties placed before Nestor by Hecamede, and a 

 jar of onions was one of the wedding presents received 

 by Iphicrates. 



The common onion has been found wild in Beluchistan 

 and the countries adjoining, whilst the spring onion has 

 been discovered wild in Siberia, leeks in Algeria and 

 many other places, and chives commonly throughout 

 Europe and North America. The onion was introduced 

 into England at a very early period, though the shallot 

 and the spring onion were not grown in this country 

 before the sixteenth century. That, even in the time 

 of Chaucer, a taste for onions was scarcely reckoned a 

 mark of elegance is shown by his including it among 

 the possessions of the Sompnour : — 



"Wei loved he garleek, oynouns, and ek leekes " 



The onion has had a lengthy career as an instrument 

 of divination, and Mr Folkard, in his "Plant Lore and 

 Legends," quotes an old verse illustrative of one of its 

 uses : — 



" In these same days young wanton gyrles that meet for marriage be 

 Doe search to know the names of them that shall their husbands be ; 

 Four onyons, five, or eight they take, and make in every one 

 Such names as they do fancie most, and best to think upon 

 Then nere the chimney them they set, and that same onyon then 

 That firste doth sproute doth surely bear the name of their good man." 



As with most other pungently odorous plants, onions, 

 leeks, and garlic have been — and still are — commonly 

 reputed as givers of health and curers of many ills. 



" Eat Leeks in Lide, and Ramsins (/,e. Garlic) in May, 

 And all the year after physitians may play." 



says one old couplet, but Gerard took quite another 

 view : " The onion being eaten, yea though it be boiled, 

 causeth headach, hurteth the eies and maketh a man 

 dimsighted, dulleth the senses, and provoketh over- 

 much sleep, especially being eaten rawe." 



