hysician to Henry IV.,
praising the Corbeil peach, which was only an inferior and almost wild
sort, and describing it as having "_dry_ and _solid_ flesh, not adhering
to the stone." The culture of this fruit, which was not larger than a
damask plum, had then, according to Champier, only just been introduced
into France. It must be remarked here that Jacques Coythier, physician to
Louis XI., in order to curry favour with his master, who was very fond of
new fruits, took as his crest an apricot-tree, from which he was jokingly
called Abri-Coythier.

[Illustration: Fig. 80.--Cultivation of Fruit, from a Miniature of the
"Proprietaire de Choses" (Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, in the
Library of the Arsenal of Paris).]

It must be owned that great progress has been made in the culture of the
plum, the pear, and the apple. Champier says that the best plums are the
_royale_, the _perdrigon_, and the _damas_ of Tours; Olivier de Serres
mentions eighteen kinds--amongst which, however, we do not find the
celebrated Reine Claude (greengage), which owes its name to the daughter
of Louis XII., first wife of Francis I.

Of pears, the most esteemed in the thirteenth century were the
_hastiveau_, which was an early sort, and no doubt the golden pear now
called St. Jean, the _caillou_ or _chaillou_, a hard pear, which came from
Cailloux in Burgundy and _l'angoisse_ (agony), so called on account of its
bitterness--which, however, totally disappeared in cooking. In the
sixteenth century the palm is given to the _cuisse dame_, or _madame_; the
_bon chretien_, brought, it is said, by St. Francois de Paule to Louis
XI.; the _bergamote_, which came from Bergamo, in Lombardy; the
_tant-bonne_, so named from its aroma; and the _caillou rosat_, our
rosewater pear.

Amongst apples, the _blandureau_ (hard white) of Auvergne, the _rouveau_,
and the _paradis_ of Provence, are of oldest repute. This reminds us of
the couplet by the author of the "Street Cries of Paris," thirteenth
century:--

"Primes ai pommes de rouviau,
Et d'Auvergne le blanc duriau."

("Give me first the russet apple,
And the hard white fruit of Auvergne.")

The quince, which was so generally cultivated in the Middle Ages, was
looked upon as the most useful of all fruits. Not only did it form the
basis of the farmers' dried preserves of Orleans, called _cotignac_, a
sort of marmalade, but it was also used for seasoning meat. The Portugal
quince was the most