124 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
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Gilloflowers 5 but if we could hunt up the fifty or 
sixty sorts he was acquainted with, we should pro¬ 
bably class his Carnations as Cloves, and his Gillo¬ 
flowers as Carnations. It is a matter of some im¬ 
portance, however, to note that the Carnation is the 
Gilloflower of the old poets and herbalists. Other 
Gilloflowers were described with a qualifying adjec¬ 
tive as ‘ Stock Gilloflowers,’ ‘ Cuckow Gilloflowers,’ 
and so forth; but these are the true Gilloflowers, 
and the name takes us to the sunny lands of the 
Latin races, for it has a Latin root, and it gives us 
the suggestion that the Carnation is not, in a proper 
sense of the term, a native flower. We have a wild 
Pink, indeed, and a most lovely flower it is, but it 
does not appear to possess the elements needful for 
the formation of such rich and refined flowers as are 
brought under our notice to-day. In common with 
many other garden flowers which are undoubtedly 
represented by wildings of the woods and fields, the 
influence of a south European climate appears to be 
and to have been needed for their full development. 
Hence we may treat with respect the probable refer¬ 
ence to the Carnation by Pliny as the Cantabrica, 
which he says was discovered in Spain in the 
days of Augustus Cassar. It is amusing to 
note that Pliny antedates the ‘ soppes in wine ’ 
of the old English writers, by describing the 
Spaniards as employing this flower to give a 
spicy flavour to their beverages. In Philemon 
Holland’s grand translation we read, ‘ At this day, 
in their great feasts where they meet to make merry 
sans-nombre, they haue a certain wassell or Bragat, 
which goeth round about the table, made of honied 
wine or sweetmead, with a hundred distinct herbs in 
it; and they are persuaded that it is the most plea¬ 
sant and wholsomest drinke that can be deuised; 
yet there is not one amongst them all who knoweth 
precisely what speciall herbs there be in all that 
number ; in this only they be all perfect, that there 
go a hundred several kinds thereto, according as the 
name doth import.’ Thus, in the endeavour to trace 
up the geographical history of the Carnation, we are 
reminded of the wisdom of our forefathers, who pre¬ 
ferred to employ Carnations and Boses, and Borage 
and Woodruff, and Tormentil to flavour their drinks, 
rather than to combine destructive alkalies with 
equally destructive ardent spirits, or to take revenge 
on the blessed sunshine and the delightful thirst it 
engenders by swallowing frothy fluids with mysteri¬ 
ous names and more mysterious properties. To 
return to the flowers, it seems that the south of 
Europe gave ns the first start in high-class Carnation 
culture, as it gave the first start, and sustains the 
latest fashion, in the selection and management of 
Daffodils. 
“ Thus we are enabled to open the pages of the 
renowned John Gerard in a state of preparedness to 
believe that the Carnations he obtained from the 
worthy merchant, Master Nicholas Lete, were the 
first of their kind seen in this country. And the 
mention of its introduction by Master Lete, from 
Poland, affords me a proper excuse for declaring 
that the present exhibition is the Tercentenary of 
the Carnation; for the work of Gerard was pub¬ 
lished in 1597, and we may reasonably contend that 
it was in or about the year 1581, or, say, sixteen 
years before Gerard’s book was completed, which 
carries back the history of the Carnation to a date 
exactly 300 years from the present time. 
“So far, good; in these matters we must pay 
respect to authority. But we must not forget the 
Scriptural precept to ‘ prove all things.’ On turn¬ 
ing to Haydn’s Dictionary .of Dates, under the word 
Carnation, I find it stated, on the authority of Stow, 
that the flower was introduced from the Low 
Countries in the year 1567. It would not be diffi¬ 
cult to harmonise this statement with the story of 
its introduction by Master Lete, for this we may be 
sure of, that it had been in this country some time 
before Gerard’s Herball appeared. But I would 
suggest that the flower is really of greater anti¬ 
quity than appears from these evidences. The 
‘ Carnations and streaked gilivors ’ that Perdita 
describes as the fairest flowers of the season 
were probably as old as any flowers of the 
English garden; for we cannot imagine Shake¬ 
speare, in such a scene and context, introducing any 
flowers that had but recently come into cultivation. 
The Winter’s Tale was written in the year 1601, or 
only three years after the publication of Gerard’s 
book ; and Perdita speaks of these flowers as deriving 
their special qualities, or, as we should say, ‘ proper¬ 
ties,’ from the arts of the florist, and as, therefore, 
less worthy of her attention. They are such, she 
says, as 1 some call Nature’s bastards,’ and she seems 
pleased to own that ‘ of that kind our rustic garden’s 
barren.’ This goes, at least, to show that there were 
many varieties of the flower known in the year 1601, 
and that they were so far common that the humblest 
lovers of the garden could afford to reject them, if 
they were stigmatised as * Nature’s bastards.’ 
Finally, to make an end of this part of the subject, 
it may be proper to state that we learn from Chaucer 
that the Clove Gilliflower was cultivated in this 
country in the reign of Edward III., and was com¬ 
monly used to give a spicy flavour to ale and wine. 
This takes us to the middle of the thirteen hundreds, 
and perhaps we might, by the aid of the wild 
British Pink that may yet be found by the exploring 
botanist, be carried back to the third day of Crea¬ 
tion, when ‘ the earth brought forth grass and the 
herb yielding seed.’ 
“This exhibition does not reveal to us all the 
glories of the Carnation family, but of certain classes 
of flowers that have been trained, as we may say, to 
certain standards of quality. I have heard to-day 
a question often asked at a Carnation show,—Why 
are there no Pinks present ? There are two reasons 
for the non-admission of Pinks to this show,—one 
is that they are not Carnations, and the other is 
that they do not now exist as flowers, for they 
attain perfection in the month of June, and cannot 
be presented at a July show. Although, from the 
botanist’s point of view, the Pink and Carnation are 
closely related, they are, in the view of the florist, 
separated by a wide gulf, for it is impossible to 
cross them, and consequently we cannot raise a 
Carnation from a Pink, or a Pink from a Carnation, 
or secure a race of flowers midway between them. 
The Carnation, as a show flower, is not allowed to 
sport into as many varieties as it pleases. It is, 
however, capable of producing almost every colour 
except true blue. The shades of red appear to be 
proper to it, a point in which it agrees with the 
wild Pink. It is from this circumstance it takes its 
name of Carnation, the exact meaning of which is 
flesh-coloured. You will remember that in the re¬ 
markable description of the death of Falstaff by 
Dame Quickly, in Shakespeare’s Henry V., the 
touching pathos is brightened by a stroke of wit, 
the effect' of which is to remind us that the 
brave Sir John was a notable coward. The 
Dame says, ‘ ’A could never abide carnation; 
’twas a colour he never liked,’ real fighting and 
flesh wounds being not to the liking of Falstaff and 
his cut-purse followers. It is singular that 
this name, which equally with Gilloflower is de¬ 
rived from the Latin, apparently furnishes the 
basis of another of the old names of the flower; for 
the Carnation is the ‘ coronation,’the chaplet flower, 
which Spenser describes as ‘ worn of paramours,’ its 
gay colour and spicy perfume doubtless rendering it 
