DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49977#0185
KITCHEN GARDENING UNDER ELIZABETH AND JAMES I. 163
cast into the grave. In olden days Rosemary was borne at
funerals :—
“ There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance,”
said Ophelia, and strange to say, it was also worn at marriages.
Anne of Cleves, when she arrived at Greenwich as a bride, wore
“on her head a coronet of gold and precious stones, set full of
branches of rosemary.” At a rustic wedding witnessed by Queen
Elizabeth at Kenilworth, “ each wight had a branch of green
broom tied on his left arm (for that side is near the heart)
because rosemary was scant there.”
“ Down with the rosemary and bays,
Do-wn with the mistletoe; —
Instead of Holly, now upraise
The greener box, for show.
* * *
When yew is out and birch comes in,
And many flowers beside
Both of a fresh and fragrant kin
To honour Whitsuntide.
Green rushes then, and sweetest bents*
With cooler open boughs,
Come in for comely ornaments
To re-adorn the house.”
Herrick, Candlemas Eve.
Parkinson again refers to the flowers in houses when writing
about wall-flowers. “ The sweetness of the flowers,” he says,
“ causeth them to be generally used in nosegayes and to deck
up houses.” The “greater flag'” was also used for the same
purpose. Plants were grown in rooms also, and Platt gives a
long paragraph with suggestions of the best plants to grow, and
tells how to water them, and give them air and light. Window
boxes, too, were used: “ In every window you may make
square frames either of lead or of boards well pitched within ;
fill them with some rich earth, and plant such flowers or hearbs
therein as you like best.” For the more shady parts of a room
he advises rosemary, sweet briar, bay, or germander. And
“in summer-time,” he continues, “your chimney may be
trimed with a fine bank of mosse, ... or with orpin, or the
* A sort of grass. (Agrostis.')
II *
cast into the grave. In olden days Rosemary was borne at
funerals :—
“ There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance,”
said Ophelia, and strange to say, it was also worn at marriages.
Anne of Cleves, when she arrived at Greenwich as a bride, wore
“on her head a coronet of gold and precious stones, set full of
branches of rosemary.” At a rustic wedding witnessed by Queen
Elizabeth at Kenilworth, “ each wight had a branch of green
broom tied on his left arm (for that side is near the heart)
because rosemary was scant there.”
“ Down with the rosemary and bays,
Do-wn with the mistletoe; —
Instead of Holly, now upraise
The greener box, for show.
* * *
When yew is out and birch comes in,
And many flowers beside
Both of a fresh and fragrant kin
To honour Whitsuntide.
Green rushes then, and sweetest bents*
With cooler open boughs,
Come in for comely ornaments
To re-adorn the house.”
Herrick, Candlemas Eve.
Parkinson again refers to the flowers in houses when writing
about wall-flowers. “ The sweetness of the flowers,” he says,
“ causeth them to be generally used in nosegayes and to deck
up houses.” The “greater flag'” was also used for the same
purpose. Plants were grown in rooms also, and Platt gives a
long paragraph with suggestions of the best plants to grow, and
tells how to water them, and give them air and light. Window
boxes, too, were used: “ In every window you may make
square frames either of lead or of boards well pitched within ;
fill them with some rich earth, and plant such flowers or hearbs
therein as you like best.” For the more shady parts of a room
he advises rosemary, sweet briar, bay, or germander. And
“in summer-time,” he continues, “your chimney may be
trimed with a fine bank of mosse, ... or with orpin, or the
* A sort of grass. (Agrostis.')
II *