aces many more common, and yet yearly commeth to our hands
others not before knowne."

FOOTNOTES:

[217:1] Omitted in the Globe edition.

[217:2] Bullein, in his "Government of Health," 1588, calls them
"Damaske Prunes."

POMEGRANATE.

(1) _Lafeu._

Go to, sir, you were beaten in Italy for picking a kernel out
of a Pomegranate.

_All's Well that Ends Well_, act ii, sc. 3 (275).

(2) _Juliet._

It was the nightingale and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yon Pomegranate tree.[219:1]

_Romeo and Juliet_, act iii, sc. 5 (2).

(3) _Francis._

Anon, anon, sir, Look down into the Pomegarnet, Ralph.

_1st Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 4 (41).

There are few trees that surpass the Pomegranate in interest and beauty
combined. "Whoever has seen the Pomegranate in a favourable soil and
climate, whether as a single shrub or grouped many together, has seen
one of the most beautiful of green trees; its spiry shape and
thick-tufted foliage of vigorous green, each growing shoot shaded into
tenderer verdure and bordered with crimson and adorned with the
loveliest flowers; filmy petals of scarlet lustre are put forth from the
solid crimson cup, and the ripe fruit of richest hue and most admirable
shape."--LADY CALCOTT'S _Scripture Herbal_. A simpler but more valued
testimony to the beauty of the Pomegranate is borne in its selection for
the choicest ornaments on the ark of the Tabernacle, on the priest's
vestments, and on the rich capitals of the pillars in the Temple of
Solomon.

The native home of the Pomegranate is not very certainly known, but the
evidence chiefly points to the North of Africa. It was very early
cultivated in Egypt, and was one of the Egyptian delicacies so fondly
remembered by the Israelites in their desert wanderings, and is
frequently met with in Egyptian sculpture. It was abundant in Palestine,
and is often mentioned in the Bible, and always as an object of beauty
and desire. It was highly appreciated by the Greeks and Romans, but it
was probably not introduced into Italy in very early times, as Pliny is
the first author that certainly mentions it, though some critics have
supposed that the _aurea mala_ and _aurea poma_ of Virgil and Ovid were
Pomegranates. From Italy the tree soon spread into other parts of
Europe, taking