fruit.[170:1]. . . Few of them are good to be eaten, and most
of them do suffocate and strangle the eater. Therefore, I give my advice
unto those that love such strange and new-fangled meates to beware of
licking honey among thornes, lest the sweetnesse of one do not
counteracte the sharpnesse and pricking of the other." This was Gerard's
prudent advice on the eating of "Mushrumes and Toadstooles," but
nowadays we know better. The fungologists tell us that those who refuse
to eat any fungus but the Mushroom (_Agaricus campestris_) are not only
foolish in rejecting most delicate luxuries, but also very wrong in
wasting most excellent and nutritious food. Fungologists are great
enthusiasts, and it may be well to take their prescription _cum grano
salis_; but we may qualify Gerard's advice by the well-known
enthusiastic description of Dr. Badham, who certainly knew much more of
fungology than Gerard, and did not recommend to others what he had not
personally tried himself. After praising the beauty of an English
autumn, even in comparison with Italy, he thus concludes his pleasant
and useful book, "The Esculent Funguses of England": "I have myself
witnessed whole hundredweights of rich, wholesome diet rotting under
trees, woods teeming with food, and not one hand to gather it. . . . I
have, indeed, grieved when I reflected on the straitened conditions of
the lower orders to see pounds innumerable of extempore beefsteaks
growing on our Oaks in the shape of _Fistula hepatica_; _Ag. fusipes_,
to pickle in clusters under them; _Puffballs_, which some of our friends
have not inaptly compared to sweet-bread for the rich delicacy of their
unassisted flavour; _Hydna_, as good as oysters, which they very much
resemble in taste; _Agaricus deliciosus_, reminding us of tender lamb's
kidneys: the beautiful yellow _Chantarelle_, that _kalon kagathon_ of
diet, growing by the bushel, and no basket but our own to pick up a few
specimens in our way; the sweet nutty-flavoured _Boletus_, in vain
calling himself _edulis_ when there was none to believe him; the dainty
_Orcella_; the _Ag. hetherophyllus_, which tastes like the crawfish when
grilled; the _Ag. ruber_ and _Ag. virescens_, to cook in any way, and
equally good in all."

As to the fairy rings (Nos. 1, 2, and 3) a great amount of legendary
lore was connected with them. Browne notices them--

"A pleasant mead
Where fairies often did their measures tread,