Part 70 (1/2)

”Eterne G.o.d, that through thy purveance Ledest this world by certein governance, In idel, as men sein, ye nothinge make.”

_The Frankelynes Tale._

[197:1] ”Flamy, because its colours are seen in the flame of wood.”--_Flora Domestica_, 166.

PARSLEY.

_Biondello._

I knew a wench married in an afternoon as she went to the garden for Parsley to stuff a rabbit.

_Taming of the Shrew_, act iv, sc 4 (99).

Parsley is the abbreviated form of Apium petroselinum, and is a common name to many umbelliferous plants, but the garden Parsley is the one meant here. This well-known little plant has the curious botanic history that no one can tell what is its native country. In 1548 Turner said, ”Perseley groweth nowhere that I knowe, but only in gardens.”[198:1] It is found in many countries, but is always considered an escape from cultivation. Probably the plant has been so altered by cultivation as to have lost all likeness to its original self.

Our forefathers seem to have eaten the parsley _root_ as well as the leaves--

”Quinces and Peris ciryppe with Parcely rotes Right so bygyn your mele.”

RUSSELL'S _Boke of Nurture_, 826.

”Peres and Quynces in syrupe with Percely rotes.”

WYNKYN DE WORDE'S _Boke of Kervynge_.

FOOTNOTES:

[198:1] ”Names of Herbes,” s.v. Apium.

PEACH

(1) _Prince Henry._

To take note how many pair of silk stockings thou hast, viz., these, and those that were thy Peach-coloured ones!

_2nd Henry IV_, act ii, sc. 2 (17).

(2) _Pompey._

Then there is here one Master Caper, at the suit of Master Threepile the mercer, for some four suits of Peach-coloured satin, which now peaches him a beggar.