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CHAPTER II.

NATURE affords not satisfaction to the eye and to the ear only, she administers, also, a sensible delight by the perfumes, which she scatters in every direction. Who, that can relish the odours of the hay-fields, the wild thyme of the heath, the roses and the woodbines, that decorate our hedge-rows, and the violet, that scents the thicket, can lament the absence of the myrrh, the cassia, and the cinnamon, which charm the poets of Persia and Arabia?" Call for wine," says Hafiz, "and scatter flowers around; what more canst thou ask from Fate?" And Mahomet, in the true spirit of his voluptuous creed, declared, that odours assimilated his soul with heaven.

Odoriferous particles are elicited by heat, and condensed by cold; and, floating on the air, rest upon the olfactory nerves, and affect them with a most agreeable sensation. These enjoyments rejoiced equally the heart of the wisest of men, and the most odious of tyrants. Solomon was accustomed to write in the praise of essences; and the kings of Tunis1 to mingle them with their foodo.

1 Vid. Treasurie of auncient and moderne times. Book iii. c. 19. p. 282. Pliny relates, that there existed a people, living near the source of the Ganges, who almost lived upon odours. "Circa fontem Ganges, Astomorum gentem, habitu tantum viventem et odore quem naribus trahant." vii. c. 2.

Holy oil, for anointing, was composed of myrrh, sweet calamus, cassia, and oil of olives. The perfume consisted of stacte, onycha, and galbanum, mixed with pure frankincense. This oil and perfume it was commanded no man to imitate. They were used solely for anointing the tabernacle, the altar, and the priests. No other men were permitted to use them; and who ever made a similar oil and essence was to "be cut off from his people'."

In distillation, the fragrant particles rise with the steam of water, in which they are distilled, and remain with it after it is condensed. These perfumes the Persians sprinkle over their guests, while the Otaheitans frequently wear flowers in the apertures of their ears, instead of earrings. In 1780, nosegays were so frequent among our ladies of quality, that no footman would engage himself, till he knew how much a week his mistress would allow for while in China there is no woman either nosegays: so old, or so poor, but adorns her head with flowers3. Pliny assures us, that the natives of Arabia Felix' burnt no wood but what was aromatic, and ate no food that was not perfumed with spices. This is probable : but when he asserts, that a people lived on the banks of the Ganges,

2

Exodus, ch. xxx. 23. 26, 27. 30. 32, 33, 34. 38.

2 Sir G. Staunton. Vol. ii. 359.

3 Among the Hindoos it is usual on the 20th of the month, Manj, from which they date the commencement of spring, for the gardeners' wives to bring to their mistresses little offerings of early fruits, flowers, and tufts of green barley; which the ladies commonly present to their husbands. Broughton's Specimens of Hindoo Poetry.

4 Plin. Lib. xii. c. 17.

who, having no mouths, lived upon the inhalations of odours1, his credulity is almost passing belief.

The love, that Peruvian ladies have for nosegays (puchero de flores) has been often commented upon by Spanish writers. The Malay women are particularly partial to the princess's leaf. This leaf is white, and emits an agreeable odour; it closes its flowers at four o'clock every evening, and expands them at four every morning: thus enjoying twelve hours sleep every day. Even the women of the Sandwich islands3 wear flowers upon their heads as ornaments;-so general is the love for this species of ornament: while the Javanese goddess, Lóro Jongran*, is supposed to sleep upon a bed of flowers.

The use of perfumes, in the catholic and Greek churches, is well known; and we are told, that in the churches of the jesuit establishment, at Lorette in Paraguay, the walls were covered with pictures; separated from each other by garlands of flowers and bunches of grass. Perfumes are also used by the Jews, when terminating their sabbath. In autumn and winter, when the stars begin

Plin. vii. c. 2.

2 The datura arborea of Chili is superior in fragrance to any tree or shrub in Europe. One of them, says Feuille, will perfume a whole garden. Its flowers are beautiful.

3

Abridg. p. 246.

Wherever her

Vid. Portlock and Dixon's Voyage round the World. She resides at Shasi, at the angle of the sacred Ganges. effigy is placed, the earth trembles, and becomes much heavier. The name of her buffalo is Mahisa, and Dewth, who attempts to slay it, is Ussoor. She sleeps upon a bed of flowers. From a Sanscrit paper. Raffles' Hist. of Java, ii. p. 13.

5 Chateaub. Genie du Christianisme, i. p. 121. Americ.

Charlevoix.-Voy.

to appear, the father of every family lights a lamp; prepares a box of spices; and, taking a glass of wine, sings, or rehearses, a prayer; and blesses the wine and the spices. Then the family smell at them; and the father casts a little of the wine into the flame. Every one then tastes the wine, and the sabbath is concluded, by each person wishing the others a good week. This ceremony is called the Habhdalah.

II.

The odoriferous wealth of flowers, invisible and intangible, like heat, cold, air, and ether, is wafted by the aerial fluid, fixes itself upon the olfactory nerve, and causes those sensations which, bearing some relation to the taste, is, for a time, much more agreeable.

The Indian Venus is said to have been found in a large rose1, floating in a sea of milk. And the western wind, being the most agreeable in Italy, Ovid marries it to the goddess of flowers. More, too, painted a picture for the Earl of Breadalbane, when at Rome, which represents the sun rising in a morning of spring. In the background stands a temple of Flora. The goddess, sitting in a car, is drawn by genii; nymphs surround her; and the god of love flies to crown her with roses.

Perfumes give an ambrosial character to every landscape. They delight us on the mountain; they charm us in the valley; they captivate us in the garden.

1 Baldæus. apud Church. Collect. Trav. vol iii. 766.

2 Fasti, v.

Milton1, Euripides, and Guarini2, delighted in the rose; Vitruvius acknowledged it to be one of the best ornaments of a Corinthian capital3; lovers, in ancient times, were accustomed to swear by it; and such veneration had the Persians for that beautiful flower, that it creeps into almost all their songs, fables, and odes.

Delightful as perfumes assuredly are, it must be confessed, that they have been more agreeable to bad princes than to good ones. Many indeed seem to have regarded them as the nectar and ambrosia of heaven. Vitellius used so many perfumes, that Vespasian was accustomed to say, “Vitellius uses more perfumes than I do water: and if he were to be wounded, he would yield more perfume than blood*." Heliogabalus, instead of oil, burnt balsams of India and Arabia. For fuel he used myrrh, frankincense, cinnamon, and cassia. His fish-ponds were

1 This poet compares sounds to perfumes :

a solemn breathing sound

Rose like a stream of rich distill'd perfumes,

And stole upon the air.

Bouhours has a beautiful simile." Whatever is delicate in thought and expression in good writers is lost, when translated into another language. Not unlike those essences, the spirit of which evaporates, when poured out of one phial into another."

Cardinal Palaviano used to say, that Seneca perfumed his thoughts with amber and musk, which at last affect the head. They are pleasing at first, but offensive afterwards.-Vid. Belles Lettres, Rollin, ii. p. 141.

2 Vid. Il Pastor Fido. Atto i. sc. 4.

3 In Solomon's temple was a profusion of artificial flowers, made of cedar; and the sarcophagi of the kings of Judea were ornamented with foliage and flower works, in imitation of their indigenous plants.

4 Philost. in Vit. Apol. v. c. 29.

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