132 



with Vir^nnia. By far the greater number of Garden plants 

 nicn)ion»Kl by tho above named Aulhor are European and Gre- 

 cian Exotica, some Asiatic and a few of Northern Africa. 



The taste for flowers, we have seen in a previous section, 

 was prevalent in this country at a very early period ; a great 

 increase of information as to iheir cxdtivation, as well as new 

 varieties, were introduced by the Flemish Worstead Manufac- 

 turers, who were driven over to Norwich during the persecutions 

 in their country, by Philip the II. and by the Duke of Alva in 

 15(>7. They brought over with them Gilliflowers. Provence 

 Roses, and Carnations. This was in the reign of Elizabeth 

 (1558 — 1G02.) who was herself very fond of flowers. Tulips, 

 and the Damask, and Musk Roses, appear to have been intro- 

 duced early in her reign. Gerarde says, in 1506, that a prin- 

 cipal collector and propagator of Tulips, had been so for 

 twenty years, and had an immense variety. There is mention 

 of a Florists' Feast at Norwich so early as 1637, at which a 

 play, or pageant, termed " Rhodon and Iris," was per- 

 formed.* 



In 1671, Evelyn mentions. Sir T. Brown's Garden there as 

 being a ''paradise of rarities,'' and that the parterres of all 

 the inhabitants were rich in excellent flowers. In short Gerarde 

 and others mention cultivators of flowers almost in every county 

 of the kingdom. The taste pervaded every rank. The Duke 

 of Somerset, the Duchess of Beaufort, Dr. Turner, Mr. Lete, a 

 London Merchant, the Artisans of each manufacturing town, 

 are mentioned as delighting in flowers and flowering shrubs. 



This fondness for flowers first manifested itself in Holland, 

 and in that country arose to an extraordinary height, continuing 

 until the middle of the last century, at which time two hundred 



* Linnean Trnnsac. i!. 996, Roys Catalojfus Cantnbriguun. 



