CHAPTER VIII 
MIDSUMMER TO MICHAELMAS 
June 25. — Midsummer Day. This is the month of Roses. 
We should have plenty of Roses were it not that it is 
rather too dry, though I did not think to be saying so in 
Scotland, where foreigners think we never see the sun. I 
do love to have Roses everywhere, as I have seen them 
in some old French gardens, especially in my mother’s 
garden, where a The Hom'ere grew so high, and withal so 
heavy, I remember it had to be supported by massive stobs 
In Ritson’s “ Ancient Songs,” in the Dead Men’s Song 
the idea of heaven is so pretty : 
The fields about this city faire 
Were all with roses set ; 
Gilly flowers and carnations faire 
Which canker could not fret. 
In my old Herbal, Gilly-flowers are figured as single sweet- 
smelling Pinks. Gilly-flowers are also mentioned in the 
Scotch ballad of “ Clerk Saunders.” They are sometimes 
thought to have been Rockets, or Wallflowers, not Pinks. 
The Italian word both for Pinks and Gilly-flowers is 
Garofano } while Sweet-williams ( Dianthus Barhata ) are 
Garofanetto salvatico. The word Gilly-flower is said to be 
a corruption of Carophyllus, meaning the “ nut-leaved.” 
This name began with the Clove-tree, and was transferred 
to the Clove-pink because of a fancied resemblance, I 
believe. In the “ Winter’s Tale,” Shakespeare makes 
Perdita talk of Gilly-flowers and Carnations. 
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