HISTORICAL SKETCH 



xxi 



perfume the air.' The monthly Eose, which blooms above 

 and around the cottage door, adds a simple charm to the 

 place. It can easily be imagined how great an influence for 

 good its sweetness must have upon those who daily inhale 

 its odours. 



There are many classical fables, legends, and anecdotes to 

 illustrate the attraction of odoriferous plants, and as they add 

 something to the peculiar interest mth which these tasty 

 products of Nature have been cherished from time imme- 

 morial, we shall endeavour to refer to many of these charming 

 flower passages, as they are certain to materially assist in 

 enlightening the mind in association with that elegant image 

 of appreciated beauty, a sweet-scented flower. 



It is asserted by the best of authorities that the seat of the 

 earthly Paradise, known to us as the ' Garden of Eden,' was 

 situate in a district of the country called Mesopotamia by the 

 ancients, watered by two mighty rivers, the Tigris and the 

 Euphrates, and of its beauty the great describer of our ^ Lost 

 Paradise ' did not disdain to speak of Eve's nuptial bower in 

 the following praise : — 



' It was a place 

 Chosen by the sovereign Planter, when he framed 

 All things to man's delightful use. . . . 

 Laurel and Myrtle ... of fragrant leaf, on either side 

 Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub. 

 Fenced up the verdant wall ; each beauteous flower, 

 It is all hues, Roses, and Jessamine 



Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought 

 Mosaic ; underfoot the Violet, 

 Crocus, and Hyacinth.' 



and then he adds — 



* Out of the fertile ground God caused to grow 

 All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste.' — Milton. 



After the fall of man we have little record of the uses 



