PINK. 49 



perfect nosegay ; it is also called (Elllet de Poete, 

 Poet's Pink. 



The Sweet- William seems to have escaped the 

 attention of the ancients, since we do not find it 

 described by any of their writers. D. Rembertiis 

 Dodoneus, who was physician to the Emperor 

 Charles the Fifth, is the first author that seems 

 to have noticed this plant ; he tells us in the se- 

 cond part of his History of Plants, chap. 7, that 

 it grows in sunny situations on rough hilly places 

 in Germany. This author calls it Amerius flos 

 and Colmenkr, he tells us also that this plant had 

 been found growing wild, but with very small 

 flowers, in some parts of Flanders. We met 

 with it also in the wild state on the hills in Nor- 

 mandy, some distance west of Dieppe, but the 

 flowers w^ere scarce larger than those of the Lon- 

 don Pride, Saxifraga uniprosa, but possessing all 

 the true character and fine pencilling of colour 

 of the Sweet- William. The plants were about 

 three inches in height, and growing in an uncul- 

 tivated spot, at such a distance from any dwelling 

 or garden, as to justify the opinion of its being a 

 native of that part of France, rather than a de- 

 generated plant escaped from the garden. 



Dr. Turner has not noticed the Sweet- William 

 in his work of 1568, but in twenty-nine years 

 after it is mentioned by Gerard, as a common 



Vol. II. E 



