[33:1] For an interesting account of the Bay and the Laurels, giving the history of the names, &c., see two papers by Mr. H. Evershed in "Gardener's Chronicle," September, 1876.
BEANS.
| (1) | Puck. | When I a fat and Bean-fed horse beguile. |
| Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii, sc. 1 (45). | ||
| (2) | Carrier. | Peas and Beans are as dank here as a dog; and that is the next way to give poor jades the bots. |
| 1st Henry IV, act ii, sc. 1 (9). | ||
The Bean (Faba vulgaris), though an Eastern plant, was very early introduced into England as an article of food both for men and horses. As an article of human food opinions were divided, as now. By some it was highly esteemed—
"Corpus alit Faba; stringit cum cortice ventrem,
Desiccat fleuma, stomacum lumenque relidit"—
is the description of the Bean in the "Modus Cenandi," l. 182 ("Babee's Book," ii, 48). While H. Vaughan describes it as—
"The Bean
By curious pallats never sought;"
and it was very generally used as a proverb of contempt—
