324 Old Time Gardens 



beautifulnesse deserveth the first place in this our 

 garden of delight to be here entreated of before all 

 other Lilies.' He had good sense. It was not I 

 who was stigmatized by him as Joan Silver-pin. He 

 spoke very plainly and very sensibly of my per- 

 fume ; there was no nonsense in his notions, he told 

 the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 

 truth : * The whole plant and every part thereof, 

 as well as rootes as leaves and floures doe smell 

 somewhat strong, as it were the savour of a foxe, 

 so that if any doe but near it, he can but smell it, 

 yet is not unwholesome.' 



" How different all is to-day in literature, as well 

 as in flower culture. Now there are low, coarse at- 

 tempts at wit that fairly wilt a sensitive nature like 

 mine. There is one miserable Man who comes to 

 this garden, and who thinks he is a Poet ; I will not 

 repeat his wretcjaed rhymes. But only yesterday, 

 when he stood looking superciliously down upon us, 

 he said sneeringly, 'Yes, spring is here, balmy spring; 

 we know her presence without seeing her face or 

 hearing her voice ; for the Skunk Cabbage is unfurled 

 in the swamps, and the Crown-imperial is blooming 

 in the garden.' Think of his presuming to set me 

 alongside that low Skunk Cabbage me with my 

 ' stately beautifulness.' 



" Little do people nowadays know about scents 

 anyway, when their botanists and naturalists write 

 that the Privet bloom is * pleasingly fragrant,' 

 and one dame set last summer a dish of Privet on 

 her dining table before many guests. Privet ! with 

 its ancient and fishlike smell ! And another tells 



