202 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 



another it had the pet names of Meet-me-at-the- 

 Garden-Gate, Kiss-me-at-the-Garden-Gate, Kiss- 

 me-quick, Kiss-me, Call-me-to-you, Cuddle-me-to 

 you, Kiss-me-ere-I-rise, Pink-of-my-John, Cupid' s- 

 flower, Love-in-idleness, and Heartsease. 



There were no "wine dark pansies" in Shake- 

 speare's time to charm the lover of flowers and none 

 of the splendid deep purple velvets and mauves and 

 pale amethysts and burnt orange and lemon and 

 claret and sherry and canary hues that delight us 

 to-day, and which are, to use the quaint old expres- 

 sion, "nourished up in our gardens." The modern 

 beauties began to be developed about 1875, chiefly 

 by the French specialists, and, as a modern writer 

 remarks : 



"Such sizes, such combinations, such weirdness 

 of expression in quaint faces painted upon the petals 

 were never known before. The colors now run a 

 marvellous range; pure- white, pure yellow, deepen- 

 ing to orange, and darkening to brown, as well as a 

 bewildering variety of blues and purples and violets. 

 The lowest note is a rich and velvety shade that we 

 speak of as black; but there is no black in flowers. 



"The pansy is the flower for all. It is cheap; it is 

 hardy; it is beautiful; and its beauty is of an un- 

 usual and personal kind. The bright, cheerful, wist- 



