HISTORICAL SKETCH 



xxxvii 



of the period show that the introduction of flowers from 

 distant parts had also taken place : 



' I am roLich sTveeter than incense or the Kose 

 That so pleasantly on the earth's turf grows ; 

 More delicate am I than the Lily ! ' 



During the sixteenth century, when intercourse between 

 Eiu^ope and the East iDecame general, many dainty products 

 found their way into cultivation, and from this time forward 

 our gardens have become full of these beautiful gifts of 

 Nature from all parts of the world. 



It was the custom in Shakespeare's time to strew scented 

 flowers in the pews of the churches, and in a play of the 

 period we find the follo^dng lines illustrating the habit — 



' My lady's fair pe^y had be^n strewn full gay 

 ^Yith Primroses, Cowslips, and Violets sweet, 

 With Mints, with Marigolds, and Marjoram.' 



Shakespeare himself had a spacious and beautiful garden full 

 of dainty odoiu's from Honeysuckle bowers, indeed it was in 

 all probability whilst in some shady nook under its flower- 

 laden walls that he wrote ' The Merry Wives of Windsor ' in 

 which Mrs. Quickly, enumerating to Falstaff all the presents 

 made to Mrs. Ford says, better after letter, gift after gift, 

 smelling so sweetly, all musk.' 



Most of oiu: poets seem to delight in the attractions of 

 fragrant bloom. Co^^'per was never happier than when 

 penning his lines in the secluded gTOves of his riu^al home. 

 Milton must have been a passionate lover of flowers, or he 

 never could have exhibited the exquisite taste and genial 

 feelings which characterise all the floral allusions and descrip- 

 tions with which so much of his poetry is embellished. 



Pope, in his lovely garden at T^^^ickenham, and Shenstone 



