^ The Scented Cjarden ^ 



every part by itself. . . . For all sweet smells have joined 

 with them some earthy or crude odours and at some 

 distance the sweet which is the more spiritual is perceived 

 and the earthy reaches not so far.' Is the passage about 

 scent in the garden, in the stately essay, too well known to 

 quote ? ' And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter 

 in the air, where it comes and goes, like the warbling of 

 music, than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit 

 for that delight, than to know what be the flowers and 

 plants that do best perfume the air. Roses, damask and 

 red, are fast flowers of their smells, so that you may walk 

 by a whole row of them, and find nothing of their sweet- 

 ness ; yea though it be in a morning's dew. Bays likewise 

 yield no smell as they grow ; rosemary little, nor sweet 

 marjoram. That which, above all, yields the sweetest 

 smell in the air is the violet, especially the white double 

 violet, which comes twice a year ; about the middle of 

 April and about Bartholomew-tide. Next to that is the 

 musk rose ; then the strawberry leaves dying, with a most 

 excellent cordial smell ; then the flower of the vines ; 

 it is a little dust, like the dust of a bent, which grows upon 

 the cluster in the first coming forth ; then sweet-brier ; 

 then wallflowers, which are very delightful, to be set under 

 a parlour or lower chamber window ; then pinks and gilli- 

 flowers, especially the matted pink, and clove gilliflowers ; 

 then the flowers of the lime tree ; then the honeysuckles, 

 so they be somewhat far off. . . . Those which perfume 

 the air most delightfully not passed by as the rest, but 

 being trodden upon and crushed, are three ; that is 

 burnet, wild thyme and water mints. Therefore, you are 

 to set whole alleys of them to have the pleasure when 

 you walk or tread.' 

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