to us for our annoyance and
punishment, which he hath bestowed upon us for our consolation and
comfort.

[6] Probably _cornels_.

We have in like sort such workmen as are not only excellent in
grafting the natural fruits, but their artificial mixtures, whereby
one tree bringeth forth sundry fruits, and one and the same fruit of
divers colours and tastes, dallying as it were with nature and her
course, as if her whole trade were perfectly known unto them: of hard
fruits they will make tender, of sour sweet, of sweet yet more
delicate, bereaving also some of their kernels, other of their cores,
and finally enduing them with the savour of musk, amber, or sweet
spices, at their pleasures. Divers also have written at large of these
several practices, and some of them how to convert the kernels of
peaches into almonds, of small fruit to make far greater, and to
remove or add superfluous or necessary moisture to the trees, with
other things belonging to their preservation, and with no less
diligence than our physicians do commonly show upon our own diseased
bodies, which to me doth seem right strange. And even so do our
gardeners with their herbs, whereby they are strengthened against
noisome blasts, and preserved from putrefaction and hindrance: whereby
some such as were annual are now made perpetual, being yearly taken
up, and either reserved in the house, or, having the ross pulled from
their roots, laid again into the earth, where they remain in safety.
With choice they make also in their waters, and wherewith some of them
do now and then keep them moist, it is a world to see, insomuch that
the apothecaries' shops may seem to be needful also to our gardens and
orchards, and that in sundry wise: nay, the kitchen itself is so far
from being able to be missed among them that even the very dish-water
is not without some use amongst our finest plants. Whereby, and sundry
other circumstances not here to be remembered, I am persuaded that,
albeit the gardens of the Hesperides were in times past so greatly
accounted of, because of their delicacy, yet, if it were possible to
have such an equal judge as by certain knowledge of both were able to
pronounce upon them, I doubt not but he would give the prize unto the
gardens of our days, and generally over all Europe, in comparison of
those times wherein the old exceeded. Pliny and others speak of a rose
that had three score leaves growing upon one button: but if I should
tell