MULBEKRY TRKE. 



— I lie salubres 



Estates peraget, qui nigris prandia moris 

 Finiet, ante gravem quae legerit arbore solem." 



Satire iv. lib. 2. 



He shall with vigour bear the summer's heat. 

 Who after dinner shall be sure to eat 

 His mulberries, of blackest, ripest dyes, 

 And gathered ere the morning sun arise." 



Francis's Horace. 



M. Dacier remarks upon this passage, that it has not 

 been well understood : " The ancients," says he, " made 

 but one meal, and those who could not stay till supper 

 without eating, took some dry bread, raisins, figs, or 

 mulberries, in the morning, and this repast was called 

 prandium, gustus, &c." 



This remark is not mentioned with any intention of 

 discussing the point here ; but from a conscientious fear 

 of misleading the reader in another important point, for 

 M. Dacier proceeds to say, that hov/ever wholesome this 

 fine fruit may be when eaten in the morning, it is by no 

 means advisable to eat it after a variety of meats ; and 

 this assertion is supported by an authority no less than 

 that of Galen *. 



Dr Clarke tells us, that he saw some Greeks in the 

 Crimea employed in distilling brandy from mulberries ; 

 which he describes as " a weak but palatable spirit, as 

 clear as water -f-."" 



We learn from Ovid that the Mulberry derives its fine 

 colour from the blood of the two unfortunate lovers, 

 Pyramus and Thisbe. He tells us that it was originally 

 snow-white, but that when Pyramus, in despair upon 

 the supposed death of his mistress, killed himself with 



* See Dacier's Horace. t TraTels, Vol. i. p. 529. 



s 2 



