PREFACE. xvn 



agreed with this beautiful speech ! for that his " wise 

 heart" loved the flowers, the hly especially, is evident from 

 numerous passages in his Song. The object of his love 

 in claiming a supreme degree of beauty, exclaims, " I am 

 the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley." 



The Emperor Dioclesian preferred his garden to a 

 throne : 



" Methinks I see great Dioclesian walk 

 In the Salonian garden's noble shade. 

 Which by his own imperial hands was made : 

 I see him smile, methinks, as he does talk 

 With the ambassadors, who come in vain 

 T' entice him to a throne again. 

 ' If I, my friends,' said he, ' should to you show 

 All the delights which in these gardens grow, 

 'Tis likelier far that you with me should stay. 

 Than 'tis that you should carry me away : 

 And trust me not, my friends, if, every day, 

 I walk not here with more delight. 

 Than ever, after the most happy fight. 

 In triumph to the capital I rode. 

 To thank the gods, and to be thought myself almost a god.' " 



Cowley's Gardex. 



Sir W. Temple desired to have his heart buried in his 

 garden. 



Lope de Vega appears to have been a lover of gardens. 

 " As he is mentioned more than once," says Lord Holland, 

 " by himself and his encomiasts, employed in ti'imming a 

 garden, we may collect that he was fond of that occupation. 

 Indeed his frequent description of parterres and fountains, 

 and his continual allusion to flowers, justify his assertion 

 — ' that his garden furnished him with ideas, as well as 

 vegetables and amusement*.'" 



The French poet Ronsard was evidently a lover of 



* See Life of Lope de Vega, vol. i. page 93. 



