Thyme. 
187 
in the sunny summer-time, to recline upon some such scented 
“bank whereon the wild thyme blows” as Shakspeare wist of! 
When the Greeks wished especially to compliment an author 
upon the Attic elegance of his style, they said it “ smelt of 
thyme,” because the aromatic flavour of their honey, of which 
they were so fond, was said to be produced by the bees that 
had fed upon that herb, with which Mount Hymettus was 
covered. 
Wild thyme still grows in richest profusion over the hills 
and glens of Greece. 
When Shelley wished to portray the magical effects of Pan’s 
music upon surrounding nature, he could not have made the 
god utter anything more expressive than that 
“ The bees on the bells of thyme 
****** 
Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, 
Listening to my sweet pipings.” 
Lord Bacon appears to have entertained a great fondness 
for the fragrance of these delicious herbs, and, in his exquisite 
“ Essay on Gardening,” bids us “ set whole alleys of them, to 
have the pleasure, when you walk or tread,” of inhaling the 
perfume which your foot crushes out of their bloom. And 
again, he remarks, “ I like also little heaps in the nature of 
mole-hills (such as are in wild heaths) to be set with wild 
thyme.” 
Lemon Thyme, although preferable for culinary purposes, is 
not so odoriferous as the uncultivated kind. 
