upon your tongue, is pleasant, and sweet like honey: this flower when
the sunne ariseth, you shall see it looke directly to the east, with the
stalk bent lowe thereunto, and as the sunne ariseth higher and higher,
so the flower will likewise ascend, and when the sunne is come into the
meridian or noone poynt, which is directly over it, then will it stand
upright upon the stalke, and looke directly upward, and as the sunne
declineth, so will it likewise decline, and at the sunne setting looke
directly to the west only."

His mention of another flower is attractive:--"Now for your _Wall
Gilliflower_, it delighteth in hard rubbish, limy, and stony grounds,
whence it commeth they covet most to grow upon walls, pavements, and
such like barraine places. It may be sowen in any moneth or season, for
it is a seed of that hardness, that it makes no difference betwixt
winter and summer, but will flourish in both equally, and beareth his
flowers all the yeere, whence it comes that the husbandman preserves it
most in his _bee-garden_, for it is _wondrous sweet_, and affordeth much
honey. It would be sowen in very small quantity, for after it hath once
taken roote, it will naturally of itself overspread much ground, and
hardly ever after be rooted out. It is of itselfe of so exceeding a
strong, and _sweet smell_, that it cannot be forced to take any other,
and therefore is ever preserved in its owne nature."

[65] Mr. Loudon, in his Encycl. of Gardening, fondly reviews the taste
for flowers which pervaded most ranks during the time of Elizabeth, and
Evelyn.

The _Spectacle de la Nature_, of which we have a translation in 1740,
has a richly diffuse chapter on flowers. I here transcribe a small part
thereof:--

_Prior._ "The beauty of flowers never fails to inspire us with joy; and
when we have sufficiently examined the fairest, we are sensible they are
only proper to refresh the sight; and, indeed, the prospect they afford
is so touching, and we experience their power to be so effectual, that
the generality of those arts which are ambitious to please, seem most
successful when they borrow their assistance. Sculpture imitates them in
its softest ornaments; architecture bestows the embellishments of leaves
and festoons on those columns and fronts, which would otherwise be too
naked. The richest embroideries are little more than foliage and
flowers; the most magnificent silks are almost covered with these
charming forms, and are th