§17. Horticulture. XIV. Some Political and Social Aspects of the Later Elizabethan and Earlier Stewart Period. Vol. 5. The Drama to 1642, Part One. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume V. The Drama to 1642, Part One.

XIV. Some Political and Social Aspects of the Later Elizabethan and Earlier Stewart Period.

§ 17. Horticulture.

The greatest charm of an English house, its garden, might almost be described as an Elizabethan addition to English domestic life: previously to this period, private horticulture had chiefly directed itself to the production of kitchen vegetables and medicinal herbs. Flowers were now coming to be much prized, and the love of them and care for them displayed by several Elizabethan dramatists, and, pre-eminently, by Shakespeare, was, no doubt, fostered by a desire to gratify a widespread popular taste. 59

Note 59. See, especially, of course, friar Laurence’s soliloquy in Romeo and Juliet, act II, sc. 3. As to early English herbals, see ante, Vol. IV, pp. 428, 429, and cf. ibid. pp. 613, 614 (bibl.) for a list of these and of works on gardening. Bacon’s essay Of Gardens was, no doubt, in part suggested by the interest taken in the gardens of Gray’s inn by the benchers and other members. [ back ]