the pine, the lime-tree, and the platanus, or planetree-whose leaf and shade, of all others, was the most in request-and, having been brought out of Persia, was such an inclination among the Greeks and Romans, that they usually fed it with wine instead of water; they believed this tree loved that liquor, as well as those that used to drink under its shade; which was a great humour and custom, and perhaps gave rise to the other, by observing the growth of the tree, or largeness of the leaves, where much wine was spilt or left, and thrown upon the roots.

It is great pity, the haste which Virgil seems here to have been in, should have hindered him from entering farther into the account or instructions of gardening, which he said he could have given, and which he seems to have so much esteemed and loved, by that admirable picture of this old man's felicity, which he draws like so great a master, with one stroke of a pencil, in those four words :

Regum æquabat opes animis;

that in the midst of these small possessions, upon a few acres of barren ground, yet he equalled all the wealth and opulence of kings, in the ease, content, and freedom of his mind.

I am not satisfied with the common acceptation of the mala aurea for oranges: nor do I find any passage in the authors of that age, which gives me the opinion, that these were otherwise known to the Romans than as fruits of the Eastern climates. I should take their mala aurea to be rather some kind of apples, so called from the golden colour,

as some are amongst us; for, otherwise, the orangetree is too noble in the beauty, taste, and smell of its fruit; in the perfume and virtue of its flowers; in the perpetual verdure of its leaves, and in the excellent uses of all these, both for pleasure and health-not to have deserved any particular mention in the writings of an age and nation so refined and exquisite in all sorts of delicious luxury.

The charming description Virgil makes of the happy apple, must be intended either for the citron, or for some sort of orange growing in Media, which was either so proper to that country as not to grow in any other, (as a certain sort of fig was to Damascus) or to have lost its virtue by changing soils, or to have had its effect of curing some sort of poison that was usual in that country, but particular to it: I cannot forbear inserting those few lines out of the second of Virgil's Georgics, not having ever heard any body else take notice of them.

Media fert tristes succos, tardumque saporem
Felicis mali; quo non præsentius ullum
(Pocula si quando sævæ infecêre novercæ,
Miscueruntque herbas, et non innoxia verba)
Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena.
Ipsa ingens arbos, faciemque simillima lauro:
Et, si non alios late jactaret odores,

Laurus erit: folia haud ullis labentia ventis ;
Flos apprima tenax: animas et olentia Medi
Ora fovent illo, ac senibus medicantur anhelis.

Media brings poisonous herbs, and the flat taste
Of the bless'd apple, than which ne'er was found
A help more present, when cursed step-dames mix
Their mortal cups, to drive the venom out:
"Tis a large tree, and like a bays in hue;
VOL. I.

C

And, did it not such odours cast about,

'Twould be a bays: the leaves with no winds fall;
The flowers all excel; with these the Medes
Perfume their breaths, and cure old pursy men.

The tree being so like a bays or laurel, the slow or dull taste of the apple, the virtue of it against poison, seem to describe the citron; the perfume of the flowers, and virtues of them, to cure ill scents of mouth or breath, or shortness of wind in pursy old men, seem to agree most with the orange: if flos apprima tenax mean only the excellence of the flower above all others, it may be intended for the orange if it signifies the flowers growing most upon the tops of the trees, it may be rather the citron; for I have been so curious as to bring up a citron from a kernel, which at twelve years of age began to flower; and I observed all the flowers to grow upon the top branches of the tree, but to be nothing so high or sweet-scented as the orange. On the other side, I have always heard oranges to pass for a cordial juice, and a great preservative against the plague, which is a sort of venom; so that I know not to which of these we are to ascribe this lovely picture of the happy apple but I am satisfied by it, that neither of them was at all common, if at all known in Italy, at that time, or long after, though the fruit be now so frequent there in fields, (at least in some parts) and make so common and delicious a part of gardening, even in these northern climates.

It is certain, those noble fruits, the citron, the orange, and the lemon, are the native product of those noble regions, Assyria, Media, and Persia;

and, though they have been from thence transplanted and propagated in many parts of Europe, yet they have not arrived at such perfection in beauty, taste, or virtue, as in their native soil and climate. This made it generally observed, among the Greeks and Romans, that the fruits of the East far excelled those of the West; and several writers have trifled away their time in deducing the reasons of this difference, from the more benign or powerful influence of the rising sun. But there is nothing more evident to any man that has the least knowledge of the globe, and gives himself leave to think, than the folly of such wise reasons; since the regions that are east to us, are west to some others; and the sun rises alike to all that lie in the same latitude, with the same heat and virtue upon its first approaches, as well as in its progress. Besides, if the Eastern fruits were the better only for that position of climate, then those of India should excel those of Persia-which we do not find by comparing the accounts of those countries: but Assyria, Media, and Persia have been ever esteemed, and will be ever found, the true regions of the best and noblest fruits in the world. The reason of it can be no other than that of an excellent and proper soil being there extended under the best climate for the production of all sorts of the best fruits; which seems to be from about twenty-five to about thirty-five degrees of latitude. Now the regions under this climate in the present Persian empire (which comprehends most of the other two, called anciently Assyria and Media) are composed of many provinces full of great and fertile plains, bounded by high mountains, especially to the north;

watered naturally with many rivers, and those, by art and labour, derived into many more and smaller streams, which all conspire to form a country, in all circumstances, the most proper and agreeable for production of the best and noblest fruits : whereas, if we survey the regions of the Western world, lying in the same latitude between twentyfive and thirty-five degrees, we shall find them extend either over the Mediterranean sea, the ocean, or the sandy barren countries of Africa; and that no part of the continent of Europe lies so southward as thirty-five degrees: which may serve to discover the true genuine reason, why the fruits of the East have been always observed and agreed to transcend those of the West.

In our north-west climates, our gardens are very different from what they were in Greece and Italy, and from what they are now in those regions in Spain, or the southern parts of France and as most general customs in countries grow from the different nature of climate, soils, or situations, and from the necessities or industry they impose, so do these.

In the warmer regions, fruits and flowers of the best sorts are so common, and of so easy production, that they grow in fields, and are not worth the cost of enclosing, or the care of more than ordinary cultivating. On the other side, the great pleasures of those climates are coolness of air, and whatever looks cool even to the eyes, and relieves them from the unpleasant sight of dusty streets, or parched fields: this makes the gardens of those countries to be chiefly valued by largeness of extent, (which gives greater play and openness of air) by shades