use which seems to have been known to the ancient Jews, as the name “Gath Rimmon,” given to a spot in Canaan, signifies the “press of pomegranates;” and Solomon, too, explicitly promises the bride he wooes, “I will cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranates.”
The simply expressed juice is so refreshing that it is considered superior even to that of the orange, in cases of fever; while Lord Bacon recommends it (preferring, however, the wine if attainable) as very efficacious in liver complaints. It is common in Barbary, where, Shaw says, it often weighs a pound and measures three or four inches in diameter; and a famous kind, bearing seedless berries, is grown in gardens near Cabul in India, where, too, the natives, as we are told by Boyle, employ the bark of the root to expel the tape-worm, a purpose to which it was applied so long since as in the days of Dioscorides. The flowers and the rind of the fruit are also sometimes used medicinally, both being powerfully astringent, while from the latter it is said ink can be made equal to that produced from galls; and either from it, or from the bark of the tree, according to different authorities, a red or yellow dye is extracted, still in use in some parts of Germany and elsewhere, to stain leather in imitation of morocco.
Early introduced into Southern Europe, it is supposed that Granada in Spain owes its name to this fruit having been planted there when first brought from Africa; and the idea is countenanced by the fact of a split pomegranate being displayed in the arms of that province. About Genoa and Nice it is grown in a bushy form, and hedges are commonly formed of it, though in many places it is trained to a height of fifteen or twenty feet, assuming the shape of a tree with a pruned stem six or eight feet high, surmounted by a spreading head similar in character to the hawthorn. The slender branches, some of which are armed with sharp thorns, are clothed with opposite leaves about three inches long, of very bright green, and bear at their extremities, either singly or in bunches of three or four together, the large and beautiful blossoms specially characterised by their thick red calyx, and five to seven petals of bright scarlet surrounding a crowd of stamens. These flowers appear in succession during the summer mouths from June to September, the fruit ripening about October, and sometimes hanging on the tree till the next spring or summer.
This plant was introduced into England during the reign of Henry VIII.: it was cultivated by Gerard, and is mentioned among the trees which fruited in the orange-house of Charles I. It will, however, grow well here in the open air, bearing its beautiful flowers in profusion, though but rarely ripening its fruit; and, the former becoming thus the principal object of the cultivator, the kind most usually grown is the double-flowered variety, which is barren, but bears large red, yellow, or variegated blossoms, and attains sometimes a very great size,—one trained against the walls of Fulham Palace, and supposed to be the largest in England, being at least forty feet high and fifty feet broad. In France the tree thrives well and lives long. Risso mentions that some planted at Versailles were two or three centuries old; but there they will not bear exposure to the open air during early spring.
A dwarf species of pomegranate, bearing very small flowers and fruit, is indigenous to South America and the West Indies, but the ordinary sort has also been long since introduced there; and, in the latter place, produces larger and better fruit than in Europe; while a resident at Tacna in Peru, in a recent communication addressed to the London Horticultural Society, mentions that all the hedges in that part of the country are composed of this plant, and are covered in the season with abundance of beauful fruit; of which, however, no use is made. It has also been introduced into the States of North America; and though in the colder provinces it requires to be grown on espaliers, and protected in the winter, it flourishes so well in the South, that, were it popularised, the Northern markets might be amply supplied thence; but, a taste for it having never been cultivated, no demand has yet arisen.
In the “Natural System of Botany,” the pomegranate is generally placed among the myrtle-blooms, though Lindley is inclined to separate it from them, on account of the singular structure of the fruit, which is almost individually peculiar. It, however, reckons among its near relatives the delicious guava, and the rose-apple of the East, as well as the pimento, or allspice, and the clove.
DAMSEL JOHN.[1]
Damsel John is fair to see;
Damsel John is bold and free;
By his father rideth he.
Damsel John hath scarcely seen
Eighteen years: his life is green,
Yet his heart is aged, I ween.
Damsel John doth love a maid
Hidden in the country shade,
Daughter of plebeian grade.
She has lit the altar fire
Of young manhood’s first desire:
Flames it high as funeral pyre.
Rich the peach-bloom of her cheek;
Hearts will throb, and eyes will speak;
Love is strong, and man is weak.
Many a night and many a day,
From the Court, with turrets grey,
To her bower he steals away.
Many a day and many a night
He is lost from all men’s sight,
In that bower of delight.
There be some with serpent eyes,
Hearted like the snake which lies
Cold beneath blue summer skies.
- ↑ Damsel was originally an exclusive designation of the children of the king:—thus, the “Damsel” Richard, Prince of Wales. The title was afterwards extended to the offspring of nobles; but it always applied to both sexes.
