HERBS USED IN DECORATIONS, ETC. 119 



The following entry is made among " Queen Eliza- 

 beth's Annual Expences " : — 



Makers of hearb bowres and planters of 

 trees . . . Fee, £25 



Stillers of Waters . . ,,40 



John Kraunckwell and his wife, 1584. 



Peck's Desiderata. 

 These offices must have been of considerable import- 

 ance, for when money went much further than it does 

 nowadays, an annual fee of ^^40 for " stilling waters " 

 was a high one. 



For never resting time leads summer on 



To hideous winter, and confounds liim there ; 



Sap check'd with frost, and lusty leaves quite gore, 



Beauty o'ershow'd, and bareness everywhere. 



Then, were not summer's distillation left, 



A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass, 



Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft, 



Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was. 



But flower's distill'd, though they with winter meet 



Lese but their show ; their substance still lives sweet. 



Sonnet V — Shakespeare, 



Among some charming recipes Mrs Roundell gives 

 a charming one for "Dorothea Roundell's Sweet- Jar." 

 But, perhaps, even sweeter is the next recipe, called 

 simply Sweet- Jar. 



Snveet-Jar. 



" ^ lb. bay salt, ^ lb. salt-petre and common salt, all to 

 be bruised and put on six baskets of rose-leaves, 24 bay 

 leaves torn to bits, a handful of sweet myrtle leaves, 

 6 handfuls of lavender blossom, a handful of orange or 

 syringa blossoms, the same of sweet violets, and the 

 same of the red of clove carnations. After having well 

 stirred every day for a week, add | oz. cloves, 4 oz. 

 orris root, J oz. cinnamon, and two nutmegs all pounded ; 

 put on the roses, kept well covered up in a china jar 



