LAVENDER. 299 



spike; because, among all the verticillated 

 plants, this alone bears a spike. Many call 

 it Nard ; and, perhaps, this is the true nard 

 of the ancients.* 



This shrub, which is the pride both of our 

 aromatic gardens and of our perfumers' 

 shops, is a native of Languedoc, some parts 

 of Spain, Hungary, and Austria ; but the 

 most odoriferous lavender grew anciently 

 about the city Eporrhedia, and was so much 

 esteemed at the time when our Saviour was 

 upon earth, that it was sought after with the 

 greatest avidity and brought a revenue to 

 that city equal to a mine of the most precious 

 metal, f* 



St. Mark mentions it as a thing of great 

 value ; for when Christ was in Bethany, 

 " in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat 

 at meat, there came a woman, having an ala- 

 baster box of ointment of spikenard, very 

 precious : and she brake the box, and poured 

 it on his head." They who were present 

 observed that " it might have been sold for 

 more than three hundred pence." J 



Pliny, who flourished a little after this 



* Historia Plantarum, ascribed to Boerhaave. 

 t Plin. book xxi. chap. 7. 

 J Chap. xiv. ver. 3 to 5. 



