FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES 47 
He gives the name of a pear, evidently newly introduced, in 
the same description : 
“ She was wel more blisful on to see 
Than is the newe perjenete tree.” 
Wardens were still the most popular of cooking varieties. In 
recipes for dressing pears, the Wardon is usually intended, as 1 
“ Peris in Syrippe. Take Wardons, and cast hem in a fair 
potte,” or “ Peris in Compost. Take pere Wardons and pare 
hem.” At Henry IV.’s wedding-feast these pears in syrup 
occur twice, and are included in the same course as venison, 
quails, sturgeon, fieldfare, etc. At the coronation feast of the 
same King we find quinces in “ comfyte,” and also “ Pome- 
dor reing,” or golden apple, supposed in this case to stand for 
oranges, as this rare fruit might be obtained for such a great 
occasion. Oranges probably were occasionally brought to this 
country at an even earlier date. It is said that in the eighteenth 
year of Edward I. the Queen bought, out of the cargo of a 
large Spanish ship, one frail of figs, one of raisins, one bale of 
dates, two hundred and thirty pomegranates, fifteen citrons, 
and seven oranges. 2 
Cherries were cultivated very extensively. The season of 
gathering them is spoken of by Langland as “ cherry-time.” 
This cherry-harvest, coming at the height of summer, was a 
time of merry-making, and to it Gower compares the brief 
length of human life, which 
‘‘ . . . endureth but a throw 
Right as it were a cherry feast.” 
Confessio A mantis. 
And Lydgate also uses the cherry-fair as a simile : 
“ This world is but a cherry fair.” 
Cherries and strawberries were hawked in the streets of 
London, and the cry of “ Ripe strawberries !” was familiar even 
in Lydgate's time: 
“ Then vnto London I dyd me hye 
Of all the land it beareth the pryse 
1 Harl. MS. 4016, E. E. Text. Soc. 
2 Manners and Household Expenses , ed. Beriah Botfield, Roxburghe 
Club, 1841. 
