324 Old Time Gardens 



beautifulnesse deserveth the first place in this our 

 garden of delight to be here entreated of before all 

 other Lilies. 1 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 wretched rhymes. But only yesterday, 

 when he stood looking superciliously down upon us, 

 he said sneeringly, c 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 c 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 



