"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 55 



liquor as sweet as hypocras. Those scents and spices 

 are for perfumed balls to be worn round the ladies' 

 necks, there to move up and down to the music of 

 sighs and heart-beating, envied by lovers whose let- 

 ters will perhaps be perfumed by their contact. 



"What pleasant bright London gardens we dream 

 of when we find that the remedy for a burning fever 

 is honeysuckle leaves steeped in water, and that a 

 cooling drink is composed of wood sorrel and Roman 

 sorrel bruised and mixed with orange juice and 

 barley-water. Mint is good for colic; conserves of 

 roses for the tickling rheum; plaintain for flux; 

 vervain for liver-complaint all sound pleasanter 

 than those strong biting minerals which now kill or 

 cure and give nature no time to heal us in her own 

 quiet way." l 



Bacon's "Essay on Gardening" is very detailed 

 and very practical, and it must be remembered that 

 he was addressing highly cultivated and skilfully 

 trained amateurs and professional gardeners when 

 he wrote : 



"God almighty first planted a garden; and indeed 

 it is the purest of human pleasures ; it is the greatest 

 refreshment to the spirit of man. And a man shall 



1 Thornbury. 



