§J The Scented Qarden ^ 



and nineteenth centuries. Gerard mentions ' sage ale.' 

 1 No man need to doubt of the wholesomeness of Sage 

 Ale, being brewed as it should be with Sage, Betony, 

 Scabious, Spikenard, Squinnette and Fennell Seed.' An 

 old lady told me that in her youth saucers of sage leaves 

 were invariably handed with the glasses of medicinal 

 waters at Tunbridge Wells. They were used to rub one's 

 teeth after drinking the water, as they removed the iron 

 stains. Another old lady told me that when she was a 

 child, their old nurse invariably insisted on her charges 

 rubbing their teeth with sage leaves after cleaning them 

 with tooth powder. When they protested against this 

 additional cleaning, she would say, ' The tooth-powder 

 is to clean your teeth and the sage leaves are to make 

 them beautiful.' 



Three old-fashioned herbs now rarely seen are lovage, 

 sweet Cicely and costmary. I do not know any catalogues 

 in which they are offered for sale. Lovage {Ligusticum 

 scoticum) is said to have been introduced by the Romans, 

 but formerly it grew wild near the coast of Scotland and 

 Northumberland. It is a handsome plant, and the scent 

 of the big succulent leaves is rather suggestive of parsley, 

 only sweeter. Hence, probably, the old Scotch name, 

 1 Sea parsley.' In the Shetland Islands it was called 

 Siunas. In olden days it was one of the herbs used for 

 scenting baths. Thomas Hyll, in The Gardeners' Laby- 

 rinth (1577), tells us ' This herbe for hys sweete savoure 

 is used in bathe.' Another old writer tells us, ' it joyeth 

 to growe by wayes and under the eaves of a house, it 

 prospers in shadowy places and loves running water.' 

 Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata) is another rare native 

 plant which both for the beauty of its fern-like leaves and 



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