Ss Pte he 2 Sons eee) eee On ee ae 
PERFIDY. 217 
of gout by the use of strawberries. This fruit, 
it is said, has often restored to health patients 
given over by every physician. They will com- 
pose a thousand delicious sherbets, they are the 
delight of our tables, and the luxury of our 
rural feasts. | Every where these charming 
berries, which dispute in freshness and in per- 
fume the buds of the most beautiful flowers, 
please the sight,the taste, and the smell. Yet 
there are some unfortunate enough to hate 
strawberries, and to swoon at the sight of a rose. 
Ought it to astonish us, since we see certain 
persons grow pale at the relation of a good 
action, as if the inspiration of virtue were a 
reproach to them. Happily, these sad excep- 
tions take nothing from the charm of virtue,— 
from the beauty of the rose,—nor from the 
perfect excellence of the most charming of 
fruits. 
PERFIDY. 
ALMOND LAUREL, 
In the environs of Trebizond, on the borders 
of the Black Sea, we find the treacherous laurel 
growing naturally. It conceals under its sweet 
and brilliant verdure the most deadly poison 
we are acquainted with. In winter it adorns 




















