280 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



Lady Mary Mordaunt. Through her, Sir John 

 became possessor of Drayton, in Northampton- 

 shire, a beautiful old place, with a perfect Dutch 

 Garden. He left it to Lady Betty, who enjoyed 

 the possession of it for fifty-one years as she lived 

 to be " nearly a thousand ! " Lady Betty left 

 everything to the second son of her great friend, 

 the Duchess of Dorset, Lord George Sackville, 

 who afterwards took the name of Germaine. 



Was it, perchance, in the quaint Dutch Garden 

 at Drayton, or when staying at Knole, that Lady 

 Betty Germaine learnt to make her celebrated 

 Pot-pourri ? Both Gardens, most likely, were filled 

 with sweet-smelling, old-fashioned flowers, and both 

 perhaps could supply her with the happy combina- 

 tion of scents needed to make, when dried, the 

 delicious aroma of Pot-pourri. 



What a fragrance there is in the mere name 

 of that scented treasure so beloved of the grand- 

 mothers of the past 'Pot-pourri, whose home was 

 always in some priceless piece of old china ! 



The old recipe for Lady Betty Germaine's 

 Pot-pourri in 1750 was as follows: "Gather dry 

 Double Violets, Rose leaves, Lavender, Myrtle 

 flowers, Verbena, Bay leaves, Rosemary, Balm, 

 Musk, Geranium. Pick these from the stalks and 

 dry on paper in the sun for a day or two before 

 putting them in a jar. This should be a large 

 white one, one well glazed, with a close-fitting 



