The Tragical, Kitchen Gardiner. 49 



drejQTed with oil, vinegar and honey^ 

 a compofition always ufed by the an<:i- 

 cnts^ fugar not being then known 5 from 

 whence it may well be concluded, that 

 it could not be our common cucumber 

 that is there meant, but rather the me- 

 lon j and whoever reads how artificially 

 they were cultivated, and exposed to the 

 hotteft fun, and what pains and care v/as 

 taken about them for their Emperor 77- 

 beriuSy who was a great lover of them, can- 

 not doubt of the truth of this fuppofition. 



At their firft coming into Engltzfidy And kinJsl i 

 there were but two kinds that bur me- 

 lonifts and herbalill"s took notice of, 

 *uiz, the melo ^vulgaris, or ordinary musk 

 melons and the fecond kind, the melo 

 maximus but fince that there are al- 

 moft innumerable kinds that have been 

 brought to us from Italy France mi 

 SpaiUy which have not been as yet (that 

 I know of) reduced into any particular 

 order or method, nor no otherwife df- 

 ftinguifhed than by their fhapes and fizes, 

 whether great or fmall, ribb'd or fmooth, 

 of the early or late kind, as they are in 

 their own fpecific nature and figure. 



There is alfo a winter or rather wa- 

 ter melon, with lars;e black feeds, fohie 

 ' \ of 



