142 FAMJLIAIi GAEUEN FlOll'ERS. 



titaiidard wurk un hardy herbaceous phiiits does not even 

 meutiou it. In a past year walk through smoky Man- 

 ehester^ to judyoj for the twentieth time, the grand plauLs 

 that are exhibited in the Botanical Gardens there at the 

 famous Wliitsun Show, we stopped to admire the dense 

 green cheerful cushions of London pride in the little front 

 gardens, of \v'liich there were many, in the Stretford Road; 

 but we trembled as we peeped into the humble gardens^ 

 lest any of our orchid-growing friends should catch us 

 tasting of such a jsleasure as the sight of healthy and 

 elegant vegetation that cost the owner nothing in money 

 and was worth anything in the way of love. 



And why is it called London pride ? Thereby hangs a 

 tale. The name is modern, as may be proved by reference 

 to Parkinson's "Paradisus," where, at page 319, he describes 

 the " speckled sweet williams, or London pride." This, of 

 course, is a dianthus of the kind now known as sweet 

 william, and easy to be discovered wherever these flowers 

 are grown in an}' (juantity. It has brown or purple leaves, 

 and flowers of variable colours. Parkinson thus describes 

 them : — " Some flowers will be of a flne delayed red, 

 with few marks or spots upon them, and others will 

 be full-s2)eckled or sjirinkled with white or silver spots 

 circlewisc about the middle of the flowers, and some 

 will have many specks or spots upun them dispersed." 

 Everybody who grows sweet williams will knciv/ tlic 

 kind of plant Parkinson describes as the London 2)ride 

 of the old gardeners. 



For a hint of the truth in respect of the plant before us 

 we are indebted to Dr. Prior's " Popular Xames of British 

 Plants." He says : — " It is understoixl, upon apparently 

 goiid authority — that of Mr. IL Howard, in the Uurtleuer's 



