larating Nature (if sweet, dry, weighty, and
well-fed) not only superior all the _Gourd_-kind, but Paragon with the
noblest Productions of the Garden. _Jos. Scaliger_ and _Casaubon_, think
our _Melon_ unknown to the Ancients, (which others contradict) as yet
under the name of _Cucumers_: But he who reads how artificially they
were Cultivated, rais'd under Glasses, and expos'd to the hot Sun, (for
_Tiberius_) cannot well doubt of their being the same with ours.

There is also a _Winter-Melon_, large and with black Seeds, exceedingly
Cooling, brought us from abroad, and the hotter Climates, where they
drink _Water_ after eating _Melons_; but in the colder (after all
dispute) _Wine_ is judg'd the better: That it has indeed by some been
accus'd as apt to corrupt in the Stomach (as do all things else eaten
in excess) is not deny'd: But a perfect good _Melon_ is certainly as
harmless a Fruit as any whatsoever; and may safely be mingl'd with
_Sallet_, in Pulp or Slices, or more properly eaten by it self, with
a little _Salt_ and _Pepper_; for a _Melon_ which requires _Sugar_ to
commend it, wants of Perfection. _Note_, That this Fruit was very rarely
cultivated in _England_, so as to bring it to Maturity, till Sir _Geo.
Gardner_ came out of _Spain_. I my self remembring, when an ordinary
_Melon_ would have been sold for five or six Shillings. The small unripe
Fruit, when the others are past, may be Pickl'd with _Mango_, and are
very delicate.

38. Mint, _Mentha_; the _Angustifolia Spicata_, Spear-Mint; dry and
warm, very fragrant, a little press'd, is friendly to the weak Stomach,
and powerful against all _Nervous_ Crudities: The gentler Tops of the
_Orange-Mint_, enter well into our Composition, or are grateful alone
(as are also the other sorts) with the Juice of _Orange_, and a little
_Sugar_.

39. Mushroms, _Fungi_; By the [27]Orator call'd _Terrae_, by _Porphyry
Deorum filii_, without Seed (as produc'd by the Midwifry of _Autumnal_
Thunder-Storms, portending the Mischief they cause) by the _French,
Champignons_, with all the Species of the _Boletus_, &c. for being, as
some hold, neither _Root, Herb, Flower_, nor _Fruit_, nor to be eaten
crude; should be therefore banish'd entry into our _Sallet_, were I to
order the Composition; however so highly contended for by many, as the
very principal and top of all the rest; whilst I think them tolerable
only (at least in this _Climate_) if being fresh and skilfully chosen,
t