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a chocolate colour. This was the "red pottage" prepared by Jacob, which his brother Esau so inordinately desired as to purchase it at the expense of his birthright, Gen. xxv. 29-34. How desirable is it that young people should acquire a superiority to such base and grovelling appetites, which, if suffered to gain the ascendancy, bid fair to rob them of health, property, respectability, and even of interests infinitely more valuable and important still!

Fitches, or Vetches.

A kind of tare commonly cultivated in England as food for animals:-much difference of opinion exists as to the plant intended where the word "fitches" occurs. If it be the same as we call vetches, it certainly has its place among leguminous or podbearing plants;-but, on the whole, there appears a greater probability that the nigella, or some similar plant bearing seeds of an aromatic flavour, is intended-and as such we shall consider it.

Tares.

As this name is given to a leguminous plant well known to us, and which indeed is of the same class as lentiles and vetches, we mention it here-merely to say, that such is not the character of the tares mentioned in Scripture, which will be treated of in a subsequent section.

We proceed now to herbaceous plants and shrubs— which from the difficulty of keeping the classes dis

tinct, we shall notice in connexion. Of those which seem naturally to fall together, as among the most common garden herbs, mint, anise, rue, cinnamon, hyssop, &c. some are properly shrubs, and others herbaceous plants. This consideration will excuse their being treated of in a familiar work, without strict regard to scientific distinction. We shall rather distinguish them, as applied to culinary purposes; or as, otherwise, usefully employed in manufactures, or in medicine; as cultivated for their beauty or their fragrance, or deprecated as noxious weeds.

Onions, Leeks, and Garlic,

Are as well known among ourselves, as in the eastern countries. They are all of the same tribe. Their white bulbous roots are of a pungent and savoury flavour, (though to some persons highly disagreeable,) and are much used, either raw, stewed, or roasted, for giving a relish to food. They all grow very plentifully in Egypt, and are described by travellers, as far more tender, and better flavoured, than in any other country. From their mildness, and easiness of digestion, they may be eaten there with less prejudice, and more satisfaction, than any where else. They are a most favourite article in the diet of that people; and we are informed that the ancient idolaters of Egypt held them in such high estimation, as actually to worship them. During the long

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residence of the children of Israel in Egypt, they had in a great measure adopted the modes of living practised there. Accordingly we find that rebellious and discontented people, when passing through the desert, though divinely protected and supplied, yet gave way to sinful murmurings and dissatisfaction with the provisions of God. They remembered, and they inordinately desired, the flesh and the fish they did eat in Egypt; but they seem ungratefully to have forgotten the hard and bitter bondage in which their lives were then held: even the very sauces of their food were remembered with a sensual zest, and exalted against the heavenly bread with which they were now supplied. We remember "the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. But now our soul is dried away, there is nothing at all beside this manna, before our eyes," Numbers xi. 5, 6. To what contemptible folly and aggravated sins are men reduced, by an indulgence of mere sensual appetites! Let young people early acquire a noble, a holy superiority over these degrading propensities; and let parents guard against cultivating so fruitful a source of future degradation and misery, by accustoming them to place their happiness in the gratification of the palate!

Cucumbers and Melons.

This class of fruits is well known among us; but they can only be cultivated as exotics: they seldom attain to maturity or richness of flavour, and retain

a crudity, that renders them unsuitable to our climate and constitution. Comparatively few persons can partake of them freely without injury. In their native climes they grow spontaneously and abundantly; acquire a delicacy and richness of flavour with which we are unacquainted, and their cooling juices are not more agreeable to the palate than congenial to the health. Both cucumbers and melons grow in such abundance on the banks of the Nile, that the sailors, in passing, freely help themselves as to common things. The flesh of the melon eaten with bread, forms an important article in the food of all classes: the juice is a most refreshing, though somewhat intoxicating drink; diluted with rose-water, and sweetened, it is highly esteemed as a refrigerant in burning fevers, and is in fact the only medicine resorted to in such cases by the common people. The pulp of the cucumber, beaten up and mixed with milk, is also highly esteemed in medicine, being often successfully applied in cases of inflammation, especially that of the eyes. The cucumber and the melon were among the productions of Egypt, which the murmuring Israelites so vehemently longed after, Numb. xi. 5.

Where there are extensive and valuable plantations of these vegetables, some attention is paid to securing them, as property. Here and there may be seen a little frail hut of reeds, in which a solitary individual, often a feeble old man, watches the plantation, or perhaps carries on some operation con

nected with packing or disposing of the produce. When the season is past, these huts are deserted and disregarded; and if the inundations or tempests do not entirely dislodge their frail supporters, they stand in the midst of the field, an image of solitude and desolation. The prophet Isaiah, when contemplating the desolate state of the church, in cousequence of the sins of the people, uses this lively image, "And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city," Isa. i. 8. Comparing this with the better days of Zion, when "the multitude went to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise, and kept holy-day," (Psa. xlii. 4.) we must be struck at the desolation which sin makes in a nation, and in a church; and we are solemnly warned by the example of fallen Israel, "Oh do not this abominable thing that Jehovah hateth!" Jer. xliv. 4.

Mandrakes.

This word occurs only twice in scripture, Gen. xxx. 14, 15, 16. Cant. vii. 13. Much controversy has been excited as to the nature of the plant intended. Some indeed suppose it to mean fragrant flowers in general; others have supposed it to be the citron; others, the fruit of the lotus; while others describe it as a species of melon, growing low like a lettuce, to which its leaves have a great resemblance, except that they are of a dark green colour. The

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