The fruit
is used at the Feast of Tabernacles according to a command given in
the Book of the Law; it is not of an edible nature, but is handed
round and smelt by the worshippers as they go out, when they
"thank God for all good things, and for the sweet odours He has
given to men." This citron is considered to be almost miraculously
restorative, especially by those who regard it as the "tappnach,"
intended in the text, "Comfort me with apples." Ladies of the Orient,
even now, carry a piece of its rind about them in a vinaigrette.

The citron which furnishes Candied Peel resembles a large juicy
lemon, but without a nipple.

Virgil said of the fruit generally:--

"Media fert tristes succos, tardumque saporem
Felicis mali."

Fresh Lemon juice will not keep because of its mucilage, which
soon ferments.

Sidney Smith, in writing about Foston, his remote Country Cure in
Yorkshire, said it is "twelve miles from a Lemon."

[305] LENTIL.

Among the leguminous plants which supply food for the invalid,
and are endowed with certain qualifications for correcting the
health, may be justly placed the Lentil, though we have to import it
because our moist, cold climate is not favourable for its growth.
Nevertheless, it closely resembles the small purple vetch of our
summer hedgerows at home. In France its pulse is much eaten
during Lent--which season takes its name, as some authors suppose,
from this penitential plant. Men become under its subduing dietary
influence, "_lenti et lenes_." The plant is cultivated freely in Egypt
for the sake of the seeds, which are flat on both sides, growing in
numerous pods.

The botanical name is _Ervum lens_; and about the year 1840 a Mr.
Wharton sold the flour of Lentils under the name of Ervalenta, this
being then of a primrose colour. He failed in his enterprise, and Du
Barry took up the business, but substituting the red Arabian Lentil
for the yellow German pulse.

Joseph's mess of pottage which he sold to Esau for his birthright
was a preparation of the red Lentil: and the same food was the bread
of Ezekiel.

The legumin contained in this vegetable is very light and sustaining,
but it is apt to form unwholesome combinations with any earthy
salts taken in other articles of food, or in the water used in cooking;
therefore Lemon juice or vinegar is a desirable addition to Lentils at
table. This is because of the phosphates contained so abundantly,
and liable to become de