MIGNONETTE. 143 



of the fashionable part of the town. To siicli per- 

 sons it must be a luxurious treat to eatch a few 

 ambrosial gales on a summer's evening from the 

 heated pavement, where offensive odours are but 

 too frequently met with, notwithstanding the ex- 

 cellent regulations for cleansing the streets, and the 

 natural cleanliness of the inhabitants in general. 

 We have frequently found the perfume of the Mig- 

 nonette so powerful in some of the better streets of 

 London, that we have considered it sufficient to 

 protect the inhabitants from those effluvias which 

 bring disorders with them in the air. The perfume 

 of ]\Iignonette in the streets of our metropolis re- 

 minds us of the fragrance from the roasting of 

 coffee in many parts of Paris, without which some 

 of their streets of business in that city would 

 scarcely be endurable in the rainy season of the 

 year. 



The Sweet Reseda, or IMignonette, is now said 

 to grow naturally in some parts of Barbary, as well 

 as in Egypt. Monsieur Desfontaines observed it 

 growing in the sands near ]\Iascar in the former 

 country, but it might have been accidentally scat- 

 tered there, or have escaped from the gardens of 

 the Moors. 



This genus of plants, of which we have twelve 

 species, was named Reseda by the ancients, from 

 resedaref to assuage, because some of the species 



