s curative
of sore throats, especially of the putrid sort, if it be used in
gargles; also of thrush in the mouth, if applied thereto; and the
ripe fruit is gently laxative.

Horace recommends that Mulberries be gathered before sunset:--

"AEstatis peraget qui nigris prandia moris
Finiet ante gravem quae legerit arbore solem."

The generic name, _Morus_, is derived from the Celtic _mor_,
"black." In Germany (at Iserlohn), mothers, in order to deter their
children from eating Mulberries, tell them the devil requires the
juicy berries for the purpose of blacking his boots. This fruit was
fabled to have become changed from white to a deep red through
absorbing the blood of Pyramus and Thisbe, who were slain beneath
its shade.

It is thought by some that "morus" has been derived from the Latin
word _mora_, delay, as shown in a tardy expansion of the buds.
Because cautious not to burst into leaf until the last frost of spring
is over, the Mulberry tree, as the wisest of its fellows, was dedicated
by the ancients to Minerva, and the story of Pyramus and Thisbe
owed its origin to the white and black fruited varieties:--

"The Mulberry found its former whiteness fled,
And, ripening, saddened into dusky red."

Shakespeare's famous Mulberry tree, planted in 1609, was of the black
species. It was recklessly cut down at New Place, Stratford-on-Avon,
in 1759. Ten years afterwards, when the freedom of the city
was presented to Garrick, the document was enclosed in a
casket made from the wood of this tree. Likewise a cup was [358]
wrought therefrom, and at the Shakespeare Jubilee, Garrick, holding
the cup aloft, recited the following lines, composed by himself for
the occasion:--

"Behold this fair goblet: 'twas carved from the tree
Which, oh, my sweet Shakespeare, was planted by thee!
As a relic I kiss it, and bow at thy shrine,
What comes from thy hand must be ever divine."

"All shall yield to the Mulberry tree;
Bend to the blest Mulberry:
Matchless was he who planted thee,
And thou, like him, immortal shall be."

A slip of it was grown by Garrick in his garden at Hampton Court.
The leaves of the Mulberry tree are known to furnish excellent food
for silk worms.

Botanically, each fruit is a collection of berries on a common pulpy
receptacle, being, like the Strawberry, especially wholesome for
those who are liable to heartburn, because it does not undergo
acetous ferme