i88 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 



made of pinks was used as a valued remedy for the 

 plague. The Elizabethans also thought "if a con- 

 serve be composed of it, it is the life and delight of 

 the human race." 



Our old friend Parkinson describes Pinks as 

 "wild, or small, Gilloflowers, some bearing single 

 and some double flowers, some smooth, almost with- 

 out any deep dents on the edges, and some jagged, 

 or, as it were, feathered. Some growing upright, 

 like unto Gilloflowers, others creeping, or spreading, 

 some of one color, some of another, and many of 

 divers colors." 



He gives Double and Single Pinks, Feathered or 

 Jagged Pinks, Star Pinks, Great Sea Gilloflower, 

 or Great Thrift, "often used in gardens to empale 

 or border a knot, because it abideth green in Winter 

 and Summer and that by cutting it may grow thick 

 and be kept in what form one list." We also find 

 Single Red Sweet John, Single White Sweet John; 

 Double Sweet John; Single Red Sweet William; 

 Double Red Sweet William; Speckled Sweet Wil- 

 liam, or London Pride ; Deep Red, or Murrey Color, 

 Sweet William; and Single White Sweet William. 



"These," he adds, "are all generally called 

 Armerius or Armeria, yet some have called them 

 Vetonica agrestis and others Herba Tunica, Scar- 



