“ The brave carnation then, with sweet and sovereign power, 
(So of his colour called, although a July-flower,) 
With th’ other of his kind, the speckled and the pale ; 
Then th’odoriferous pink, that sends forth such a gale 
Of sweetness : yet in scents is various as in sorts, 
The purple violet then the pansie there supports ; 
Spenser’s works are continually sprinkled with them : 
honour : 
The mary-gold above t’ adorn the arched bar : 
The doubled daisy thrift, the button bachelor, 
Sweet-William, sops in wine, the campion, and to these, 
Some lavender they put, with rosemary and bays.” 
both Milton and Shakespeare have done them 
“ Per. Sir, the year growing ancient,. — 
Nor yet on summer’s death, nor on the birth 
Of trembling winter, — the fairest flowers o’ the season 
Are our carnations, and streaked gillyflowers, 
Which some call nature’s bastards : of that kind 
Our rustic garden’s barren ; and I care not 
To get slips of them. 
Pol. Wherefore gentle maiden, 
Do you neglect them ? 
Spenser continually speaks of this flower by the name 
for them ; 
“ Sweet-Williams, campions, sops-in-wine, l 
And Ben Jonson : 
Per. For I have heard it said, 
There is an art, which, in their piedness, shares 
With great creating nature. 
Pol. Say there be, 
Yet nature is made better by no mean, 
But nature makes that mean.” 
Winter's Tale , Act iv, Scene iii. 
of Sops-in-wine. Drayton also uses this name 
One by another neatly.” 
“ Bring corn-flag, tulip, and Adonis-flower ; 
Fair ox-eye, goldy-locks and columbine, 
Pinks, goulands, king-cups, and sweet sops-in-wine ; 
Blue hare-bells, paigles, pansies, calaminth, 
Flower-gentle, and the fair-haired hyacinth : 
Bring rich carnations, flower-de-luces, lilies, 
Bright crown imperial,” &c. 
This term seems to have been confined to a particular variety, since Drayton distinctly mentions the 
Carnation, the Pink, Sweet-William, and Sops-in-wine. 
It has been observed that the word Dianthus signifies Jove’s flower ; but in English the name is 
gnerally confined to the Pink, commonly so called ; which gives occasion to Cowley to make a facetious 
remark upon the distinction. 
“ Sweet-William small has form and aspect bright, 
Like that sweet flower that yields great Jove delight ; 
Had he majestic bulk, he’d now be styled 
Jove’s flower : and if my skill is not beguiled, 
He was Jove’s flower when Jove was but a child. 
Take him with many flowers in one conferr’d, 
He ’s worthy Jove e’en now he has a beard.” 
Cowley on Plants, Book iv. 
Criterion of a fine double Carnation . — The stem should be strong, tall, and straight; not less than 30 
inches or more than 45 inches high; the footstalks supporting the flowers should be strong elastic, and of 
a proportionate length. The flower should be at least 3 inches in diameter, consisting of a great number of 
large, well-formed petals, but neither so many as to give it too full and crowded an appearance, nor so few 
as to make it appear thin and empty. The petals should be long, broad, and substantial, particularly those 
of the lower or outer circle, commonly called the guard leaves, these should rise perpendicular about half an 
inch above the calyx, and then turn off gracefully in an horizontal direction, supporting the interior petals, 
and altogether forming a convex and nearly hemispherical corolla. The interior petals should rather de- 
crease in size as they approach the centre of the flower, which should be well filled with them. The petals 
should be regularly disposed alike on every side, imbricating each other in such a manner as that both their 
respective and united beauties may captivate the eye at the same instant; they should be nearly flat, however, 
a small degree of concavity or inflection at the broad end is allowable, but their edges should be perfectly 
entire, that is to say, free from fringe or indenture. The calyx should be at least one inch in length, ter- 
minating in broad points sufficiently strong to hold the narrow bases of the petals, in a close and circular 
body. Whatever colours the flowers may be possessed of, they should be perfectly distinct, and disposed 
in long, regular stripes, broadest at the edge of the lamina, and gradually becoming narrower as they approach 
the unguis or base of the petal, there terminating in a fine point. Each petal should have a due proportion 
of white; i. e. one half or nearly so, which should be perfectly clear and free from spots. 
