Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/318

 314 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. you say ? Nay, rather a cacatile beast. Who ever heard of, or ever read the name of a swimming beet 1 Be. Yes, Mammotrectus (as he is corruptly called), which should be pronounced Mammothreptos, as though you should say his grandmother's darling, has made this as plain as the nose on a man's face. Al. What sort of a title is that ? Be. This is to give you to understand that there is nothing in the book bxit darling things, because mammas, i.e., grandmothers, are wont to be more fond of their grandchildren than their mothers themselves are of O their own children. Al. You talk of a darling work indeed. I happened lately to dip into this book ; I even burst my sides with laughing. Co,. Where did you get that book ? it is very scarce. Be. Being at dinner at Bruges, LiviniuSj the abbot of Bavo, carried me into his private library, which the old gentleman had furnished with scarce books at a vast expense, being desirous to leave some monument of himself to posterity. There was not a book but what was a manuscript, and upon vellum too, and illuminated with various pictures, and bound in velvet, and embossed ' with gold ; and besides, there being a vast number of them, they made a very stately show. Al. What books were they ] Be. They were all excellent books. There was the Catholicon, Brachylogis, and Ovid expounded allegorically, and abundance of others ; and among them I found this facetious book Mammothreptus. And among the rest of the curiosities I found also this natatile beet. I will relate to you what I read; as for the truth of it, let the author be answerable for that. Forasmuch-, says he, as it grows in wet stinking places, and thrives nowhere so well as in mud, or a dunghill, saving your reverence, sir Al. Therefore it stinks, does it? Be. Ay, worse than a turd. Al. Is this herb good for anything? Be. Yes, it is accounted a great delicacy. Al. Perhaps by swine> or asses, or Cyprian cows. Be. Nay, by men themselves, and very fine-mouthed ones too. There is a people called the Peligni who make their dinners of an extraordi- nary length, and the parting glass they call a resumpta in their lan- guage, as we call it a dessert or kickshaws. AL Fine desserts, indeed ! Be. The law of the entertainment is, that the entertainer shall have the liberty of having what he will brought to the table; and it is not allowed that the guest should refuse anything, but must take all well. Al. What if they should have henbane, or twice-boiled coleworts, set before them 1 Be. Let it be what it will) they must eat it, and not speak a word against it j but when they come home, they are at liberty to vomit it up again if they please. And in their entertainments one dish is commonly this water-beet, or anticomarita, for it matters not which name you call it by, the thing is the same. They mix a great deal of oak-bark and a' good quantity of garlic with it. And this is the composition of the tansey. Al. Who made this barbarous law 1 Be. Custom, the most mighty of tyrants. Al. You tell me a story of a tragical conclusion, which has such a nauseous ending. Be. I have given my solution of the question, not imposing it upon anybody, nor to prevent anybody who has a mind to offer theirs. Ca. I have found out that the ancients had a fish that they called anticomarita. Be. What author is that in ? Ca. I can produce the book, but I cannot tell the author's name ; it is written in French