52 FLORA HISTORICA. 



ties -were then procured from France and other 

 parts of the continent, yet the largest and principal 

 kind of Carnation was tlien distinguished by the 

 name of the Old English Carnation. 



During the civil commotions of the latter part of 

 the reign of Charles the First and of the common- 

 wealth, this flower seems to have been nearly lost in 

 England, as iNIr. John Ray remarks, in the Flora 

 which he published in 1665, that we had formerly 

 many good kinds, but that few of them were then 

 to be found in any of our gardens. The Dutch had 

 then taken up the cultivation of the Carnation, and 

 we renewed our gardens with these flowers from 

 Holland during the reign of Charles the Second, as 

 Kay observes, '' Of these Dutch flowers I have 

 known more than a hundred distinct varieties, by 

 several names, all of them fair, large, and double 

 flowers." He also remarks, that these plants were 

 not so hardy as those that had been formerly culti- 

 vated in England. In a later edition of Mr. Ray's 

 Flora, three hundred and sixty good sorts of Car- 

 nations are enumerated ; and to show how high this 

 flower was in the estimation of that author, we give 

 his own words : 



For various colours Tulips most excel, 



And some Anemonies do please as well ; 



Ranunculus in richest scarlets shine, 



And Bear's Ears may -with these in beautie joyn : 



JBut yet if ask and have were in my power, 



Kext to the Rose, give me the Gilliflower. 



