122 Old Time Gardens 



" Faire Basil desireth it may be hir lot 

 To growe as the gilly flower trim in a pot 

 That Ladies and Gentils whom she doth serve 

 May help hir as needeth life to preserve." 



An explanation of this rhyme is given by Tusser 

 Redivivus : " Most people stroak Garden Basil 

 which leaves a grateful smell on the hand and he will 

 have it that Streaking from a fair lady preserves the 

 life of the Basil." 



This is a striking example of floral telepathy ; 

 you know what the Basil wishes, and the Basil knows 

 and craves your affection, and repays your caress 

 with her perfume and growth. It is a case of 

 mutual attraction ; and I beg the " Gentle Reader" 

 never to pass a pot or plant of Basil without 

 " stroaking" it; that it may grow and multiply and 

 forever retain its relations with fair women, as a type 

 of the purest, the most clinging, and grateful love. 



One amusing use of Basil (as given in one of 

 my daughter's old Herbals) was intended to check 

 obesity : 



" To MAKE THAT A WOMAN SHALL EAT OF NOTHING 



THAT is SET UPON THE TABLE : Take a little green 

 Basil, and when Men bring the Dishes to the Table put 

 it underneath them that the Woman perceive it not ; so 

 Men say that she will eat of none of that which is in the 

 Dish whereunder the Basil lieth." 



I cannot understand why so sinister an association 

 was given to a pot of Basil by Boccaccio, who 

 makes the unhappy Isabella conceal the head of her 

 murdered lover in a flower pot under a plant of 



