Ladyday to Whitsunday 
The strawberries are in flower now and the currants — how 
I like their old name of Garnet Berry! — while tiny little goose- 
berries, looking just fit for fairies, hang on all the bushes — 
the “berry bushes” as they are called here. The gooseberry 
used to be called in old days the “ feaberry ” or “ fepeberry,” 
supposed to have come from pfebe , the German name for a 
melon, perhaps because it is like a tiny melon. The name 
feaberry lingered in East Anglia. “Grosart” is the old 
Scotch name, probably from the old Swedish Krusbaer. 
Parkinson says amusingly of the gooseberry : “ It is of 
much use to bake into tarts or otherwife after many fashions 
as the cunning of the Cook or the pleafure of his com- 
manders may appoint.” 
May 5. — The London Pride or None-so-Pretty is out now 
in profusion, mixed with Blue Speedwell (Birdseyes). Oddly 
enough, I have heard that in New England it is the pansy 
that is called None so Pretty. Desespoir de Peintre the 
French call London Pride ; and no wonder, it is an impos- 
sible flower to paint. It is just like a tiny slim candelabra 
fit for a fairy’s table. The syringa is budding, and promises to 
be lovely ; the poets’ narcissus, sometimes called Pheasant’s 
Eye and Sweet Nancy, is out now in masses in the lily- 
garden. Violas — tufted pansies, I believe, is the more 
correct name — and pansies proper are out now. Boy and 
I love Pansies. Tickle my Fancy they used to be called, 
and they do tickle my fancy exceedingly. I have one 
looking as if cut out of black silk which is much admired. 
Stiefmutter chert, or Little Stepmother, the Germans call the 
pansy, and Unnutzesorge. Menues Pensees (Little Thoughts) 
is the prettier French name. Spenser talks of the Pawnee, 
and Prior gives a delightful list of quaint names : “ Jump 
up and kiss me, Pink of my John, Herb Trinity, Three 
Faces under a Hood,” and others. But I think the American 
names are very delightful too : “ Kit Run About, Ladies’ 
Delight, Johnnie Jumpers or Jump-ups, and Heart’s Ease.” 
The Italians called pansies Pensieri menuti. Old English 
names are Heartsease, Herb Constancy, Bird’s Eye, and Love 
in Idlesse. An old Saxon name was Banwort or Bone- 
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