Part 10 (1/2)

(2) _Carrier._

Peas and Beans are as dank here as a dog; and that is the next way to give poor jades the bots.

_1st Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 1 (9).

The Bean (_Faba vulgaris_), though an Eastern plant, was very early introduced into England as an article of food both for men and horses.

As an article of human food opinions were divided, as now. By some it was highly esteemed--

”Corpus alit Faba; stringit c.u.m cortice ventrem, Desiccat fleuma, stomac.u.m lumenque relidit”--

is the description of the Bean in the ”Modus Cenandi,” l. 182 (”Babee's Book,” ii, 48). While H. Vaughan describes it as--

”The Bean By curious pallats never sought;”

and it was very generally used as a proverb of contempt--

”None other lif, sayd he, is worth a Bene.”[34:1]

”But natheles I reche not a Bene.”[34:2]

It is not apparently a romantic plant, and yet there is no plant round which so much curious folk lore has gathered. This may be seen at full length in Phillips' ”History of Cultivated Vegetables.” It will be enough here to say that the Bean was considered as a sacred plant both by the Greeks and Romans, while by the Egyptian priests it was considered too unclean to be even looked upon; that it was used both for its convenient shape and for its sacred a.s.sociations in all elections by ballot; that this custom lasted in England and in most Europeans countries to a very recent date in the election of the kings and queens at Twelfth Night and other feasts; and that it was of great repute in all popular divinations and love charms. I find in Miller another use of Beans, which we are thankful to note among the obsolete uses: ”They are bought up in great quant.i.ties at Bristol for Guinea s.h.i.+ps, as food for the negroes on their pa.s.sage from Africa to the West Indies.”

As an ornamental garden plant the Bean has never received the attention it seems to deserve. A plant of Broad Beans grown singly is quite a stately plant, and the rich scent is an additional attraction to many, though to many others it is too strong, and it has a bad character--”Sleep in a Bean-field all night if you want to have awful dreams or go crazy,” is a Leicesters.h.i.+re proverb:[34:3] and the Scarlet Runner (which is also a Bean) is one of the most beautiful climbers we have. In England we seldom grow it for ornament, but in France I have seen it used with excellent effect to cover a trellis-screen, mixed with the large blue Convolvulus major.

FOOTNOTES:

[34:1] Chaucer, ”The Marchandes Tale,” 19.

[34:2] Ibid., ”The Man of Lawes Tale,” prologue.

[34:3] Copied from the mediaeval proverb: ”c.u.m faba florescit, stultorum copia crescit.”

BILBERRY.

_Pistol._

Where fires thou find'st unraked and hearths unswept, There pinch the maids as blue as Bilberry-- Our radiant Queen hates s.l.u.ts and s.l.u.ttery.

_Merry Wives_, act v, sc. 5 (48).

The Bilberry is a common British shrub found on all mossy heaths, and very pretty both in flower and in fruit. Its older English name was Heathberry, and its botanical name is Vaccinium myrtillus. We have in Britain four species of Vaccinium: the Whortleberry or Bilberry (_V.