IX 



THE SWEET WILLIAM 



COBBETT somewhere made a remark to the effect that a 

 bed of Sweet Williams was the most beautiful thing that 

 one can behold of the flower kind. Though few will 

 subscribe to a like enthusiasm, all lovers of simple flowers 

 find with him a great attraction in even the commonest 

 forms of Sweet William, its delightful perfume alone being 

 all-powerful in gaining admirers. While all the old 

 authorities rightly considered the plant to be nearly 

 related to the Carnation and to the Pink, they by no 

 means confined the name to Dianthus barbatus. That 

 exuberantly humorous writer, Bulleyne, for instance, in 

 "The Boke of Simples," defines the Wallflower as a 

 Sweet William, while among Wild Williams are in- 

 cluded Silene muscipula, Lychnis Flos-Cuculi, and Dianthus 

 prolifer. 



It has never been satisfactorily settled what "William " 

 means whether the name of a saint, or, as Dr. Prior 

 with some hesitation proposed, a derivative of the French 

 CEillet. Unfortunately for the latter view, Sweet 

 William is not found in sixteenth-century French as 

 "CEillet," but as "Armoire," though, later, CEillet 

 d'Espagne appears. Co-existent with this plant is the 

 " John," or " Sweet John," which modern authorities 

 identify as Dianthus Carthusianorum, but which all the 

 old gardeners, including the astute Philip Miller, con- 

 sidered only a variety of >. barbatus. But Sweet William, 

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