riNK. 51 



liquors, and it was also thouglit to possess medicinal 

 properties. Gerard says, " The conserue made of 

 the flowers of the Clone Gilloflower and sugar is 

 exceeding cordiall, and woonderfully aboue measure 

 doth comfort the heart, being eaten now and then/' 

 It was also thought good against pestilential fevers. 

 Gerard tells us also that he had a Carnation with 

 yellow flowers, ^' The which (he says) a worshipfuU 

 merchant of London, Master Nicholas Lete, pro- 

 cured from Poland, and gaue me thereof for my 

 garden, which before that time was neuer scene 

 nor heard of in these countries." From this ac- 

 count we not only learn that it was a flower then 

 cultivated in diff'erent parts of Europe, but we find 

 with what care they were procured from distant 

 countries. The Yellow Carnation is still scarce in 

 this country ; and although it is more frequently 

 seen in the vicinity of Paris than in the neighbour- 

 hood of London, yet is it not so common in France 

 as other varieties, though Parkinson speaks of the 

 Yellow or Orange- tawny Carnation as producing 

 seed in this country much freer than any other kind 

 of Carnation, and from which, he says, numerous 

 varieties were raised. 



This author enumerates by name forty-nine kinds 

 of Carnations that were cultivated in the time of 

 Charles the First, whose Queen was excessively 

 fond of flowers ; but although it appears that varie- 



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