Lavender

“ WITH exceeding pains she did it; and as she did it, Floribel’s blue eyes glowed with strength of purpose, a last great strength, the strength she had inherited from her people. She had always looked better in lavender than in anything else—as do most fair women; and now she seemed much finer than she had ever seemed before, even in lavender, worn and pale as she was. Her beauty was striking now; it was tragic and yet triumphant, funereal and yet lightened with a hint of strange merriment; it was a loveliness far more spiritual than physical. ”

“ Dugald to think of Lavender as the poor flower on the crooked stem and I make myself shut my inside eyes so that I cannot see that he is different. He is small for he only comes to my ears and his arms hang way down and he has funny, long fingers and one shoulder is higher than the other and he has a hump on his back. ”

“ The highest compounded spirit of lavender, the most glorious (if the expression may be used) enlivening scent and flavour that can possibly be, which so raptures the spirits, delights the gust, and gives such airs to the countenance, as are not to be imagined but by those that have tried it. The meanest sort of the thing is admired by most gentlemen and ladies; but this far more, as by far it exceeds it, to the gaining among all a more than common esteem. ”

“ Gerard had lavender in his garden and so did Parkinson, who says:
"It is called of some Nardus Italica and Lavendula, the greater is called Fœmina and the lesser Mas. We do call them generally Lavender, or Lavender Spike, and the Lesser Spike. Lavender is little used in physic but outwardly: the oil for cold and benumbed parts and is almost wholly spent with us for to perfume linen, apparrell, gloves, leather, etc., and the dried flowers to comfort and dry up the moisture of a cold brain. ”

“ An everlasting pea, with very large flowers of a deep rose-colour, also loved this arid steep. I was wondering why I found no lavender, when I saw a gray-blue tuft above me, and welcomed it like an old friend. The air was soon scented with the plant, and for five days I was in the land of lavender. On nearing the buttresses of the plateau the ground was less steep, and here I came to pines, junipers, oaks, and the bird-cherry prunus. But the tree which I was most pleased to find was a plum, with ripe fruit about the size of a small greengage, but of a beautiful pale rose-colour. ”

“ Coming home from school one warm noon, I chanced to look down, and saw for the first time the dry roadside all starred with lavender-tinted flowers, scarcely larger than a pin-head; fairy-flowers, indeed; prettier than anything that grew in gardens. It was the red sand-wort; but why a purple flower should be called red, I do not know. I remember holding these little amethystine blossoms like jewels in the palm of my hand, and wondering whether people who walked along that road knew what beautiful things they were treading upon. ”

“ By lavender feet clung a big, pursy, lavender-splotched, yellow body. Yellow and lavender wings began to expand and take on colour. Every instant great beauty became more apparent. It was one of those double-brooded freaks, which do occur on rare occasions, or merely an Eacles Imperialis moth that in the cool damp northern forest had failed to emerge in June. Edith Carr drew back with a long, shivering breath. Henderson caught her hands and gripped them firmly. ”

“ The lavender and the dead rose-leaves breathe a hushed fragrance from the heaps of long-stored linen; the cricket and the tiny clock keep up their cheery song, because they do not know their gentle mistress can no longer hear. ”

“ Immense quantities are used in the manufacture of lavender water and perfumery, and although the dried flowers are retailed as a preventive for clothes moths, I have grave doubts about that.
The best way to learn how to make lavender sticks is to have some dear old lady show you. [425] Failing this you may try to follow these directions and the picture that goes with them. Late June is the best time, September the next best. The lavender must be in full flower. If too young the stems will cure limp. The finest odour passes with the going to seed. ”

“ As long as they stick to the past, their recollections often possess an old-world fragrance as of lavender-bags shut in disused Victorian wardrobes, but when they come to the present the lavender-scent fades, and they reek of brimstone and burning. ”

“ If you have noticed, the colors then are fresh and vivid from the light behind the clouds, though a faint mist makes them more elusive than the colors of broad day. In the sweet peas the same airy, translucent color is repeated—the wan white, the sober purple blending into lavender, the rose in infinite variety. ”

“ Lavender is one of the few herbs that has always been in great repute and allusions to it are legion. From the custom of laying it among linen, or other carefully stored goods, a proverb has arisen—Timbs quotes from Earle’s Microcosm: “He takes on against the Pope without mercy and has a jest still in Lavender for Bellarmine.” Walton’s Coridon mentions that “the sheets” smell of lavender in a literal sense, and Parkinson says that it is much put among “apparell.” ”

“ The pleasure of sitting down upon cushions of lavender and other aromatic plants, under myrtle hedges in flower, of gathering capers in their natural state, and tracing the most curious and rich varieties of our own wild and garden flowers, amid the infinite profusion of others which we could not name, may seem trifling to a scientific botanist, but is no small addition to the morning's walk of a plain traveller. ”

“ A very reviving Odor.—Fill with recently gathered, and dried lavender-flowers, stripped from their stalks, small wide-necked scent-bottles, and just cover them with strong acetic acid. A morsel of camphor, the size of a hazel-nut, may be added, with advantage, to the lavender, in each bottle. Sound, new, and closely fitting corks should be used, to secure the mixture from the air. It is exceedingly refreshing and wholesome, and has often proved very acceptable to invalids. The lavender should be gathered for it before it is quite fully blown. ”

“ Lavender can be grouped so as to give a touch of silvery gray to the border. It permits itself to be clipped, and it must be cared for, or it will grow twisted and gnarled. If flower-spikes are desired, the lavender must be clipped in autumn; if the gray leaf is all that is desired then it must be clipped in the spring before the young twigs have begun to grow. ”

“ Lav′ender-wa′ter, a perfume composed of spirits of wine, essential oil of lavender, and ambergris.—Lay in lavender, to lay by carefully, as clothes, with sprigs of lavender in them; Oil of lavender, an aromatic oil distilled from lavender flowers and stems, used as a stimulant and tonic. ”

“ But her fragrance--stimulating rather than sweet, like lavender and rosemary--could not be forgotten in any picture of the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries and among the women whom all the world remembers. ”

“ Not the thin lavender of the upper world where we must live, but tensely, richly regal, beyond words to paint; with silvery mists above, soft, filmy veils that draped the jutting rocks and rounded each harsh edge, melting pink to rose and gray to violet. ”

“ Perfumes can absorb pictures to smallest details. Not infrequently a piquant perfume floating to one's nostrils recalls the exotic vision of some beloved woman. One of your poets, Baudelaire, I believe, has fashioned this truth into verse that is lyrically beautiful. Lavender makes one think of old English ladies creeping softly through the ancient halls of gabled houses. ”

“ In this way came sea lavender in full bloom, crimson monkey plant from the London window-box, and cuttings of mesembryanthemum. They are all alive and thriving!
The bottle gourd and the annuals have had their day, and it is over; but in the most unexpected places there still rise, like ghosts, certain plants which completely puzzle me. [4] They have not blossomed, but they grow on in spite of frost. Some of them are nearly as tall as myself. They almost alarm me when I am dividing violas, and trifling with alpines. ”

“ She inspected her carefully the whole length of the parlors, but no hint of anything blue could she detect unless it was the heliotrope in the bouquet, and that she thought was surely lavender. Her mother wore a great deal of lavender. ”

“ Lavender has beautiful and very wise eyes and a low voice that sounds like music and a lovely name, like a name in a languishing novel. And he is dreadfully smart, and gets it all from the lots and lots of books which he reads to make up for not going to school. ”

“ Lavender.
Latin—Lavandula vera; French—Lavande; German—Lavendel.
True lavender, which belongs to the Order of Labiatæ that contains many aromatic plants, is one of the most ancient in our art; it was early used in Greece for purposes of35 perfumery. ”

“ That the pleasure felt by so many animals in the odour of “sweet lavender” is due to pure and simple enjoyment of a perfume, made intensely more delightful to them than to ourselves by the wonderful development of their sense of smell, seems clear, not only from the 112fact that so many species share this amiable fondness for the scent, but also because their liking for perfumes is by no means limited to that of lavender. A flask of rose-water will make as many friends among the leopards and their kin as will the former scent, and they also enjoy the sweet odour of pinks and lilac-blossom. ”

“ In hysteria, palsy, and similar disorders of debility, and lack of nerve power, the spirit of Lavender will act as a powerful stimulant; and fomentations with Lavender in bags, applied hot, will speedily relieve local pains. "It profiteth them much," says Gerard, "that have the palsy if they be washed with the distilled water [298] from the Lavender flowers; or are anointed with the oil made from the flowers and olive oil, in such manner as oil of roses is used." A dose of the oil is from one to four drops on sugar, or on a small piece of bread crumb, or in a spoonful or two of milk. ”

“ They show her how her bloom must fade, And she herself be laid With withered roses in the shade; With withered roses and the fallen peach, Unlovely, out of reach Of summer joy that was. All things that pass Are woman's tiring-glass; The faded lavender is sweet, Sweet the dead violet Culled and laid by and cared for yet; The dried-up violets and dried lavender Still sweet, may comfort her, Nor need she cry Alas! All things that pass Are wisdom's looking-glass; [116] Being full of hope and fear, and still Brimful of good or ill, According to our work and will ”

“ Lavender is very sweet, and is often spoken of as sweet lavender. To this day one will hear women singing in the streets of London, 'Sweet lavender, buy my sweet lavender.'
"Sage likes a good, well-drained soil. It, too, likes lime. The little seedlings should be thinned out to stand about ten inches apart. When you see flowers forming cut the sage plant and quickly dry. It makes a pretty border plant in the garden. Savoury is also a border plant. But this is a hardy annual, while lavender and sage are perennials. It likes a light but rich soil. ”

“ People used to come for it from round about, quite certain of a favourable reception, for there was nothing so sure to bring peace at Coombe Oaks as a mention of lavender.
But the letter from the Flammas was the great event—from London, all that way, asking for some Coombe Oaks lavender! Then there was billing and cooing, and fraternising, and sunshine in the garden over the hedge of lavender. If only it could have lasted! Somehow, as people grow older there seems so much grating of the wheels.
In time, long time, people's original feelings get strangely confused and overlaid. ”

“ In the climate of New York lavender is scarcely hardy, but in the vicinity of Philadelphia considerable quantities are grown for the market. In American gardens sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is frequently called lavender.
Lavandula Spica, a species which differs from L. vera chiefly in its smaller size, more crowded leaves and linear bracts, is also used for the distillation of an essential oil, which is known in England as oil of spike and in France under the name of essence d’aspic. It is used in painting on porcelain and in veterinary medicine. ”

“ You only see first that they're deep and clear, but as near as anything they are the warm slatish lavender blue you see in the little fall asters. She has so much hair it makes her head look small, a sort of light chestnut, with warmish streaks in it. ”

“ The lavender is sold at the markets in bundles, each containing a dozen branches. It is sold principally to ladies in the suburbs, who purchase it to deposit in drawers and wardrobes; the odour communicated to linen from lavender being, perhaps, more agreeable and more communicable than that from any other flower. Nearly a tenth of the market sale may be disposed of in this way. Some costers sell it cheap to recommend themselves to ladies who are customers, that they may have the better chance for a continuance of those ladies’ custom. ”

“ The preparations of this plant that are used in medicine are, the essential oil, a simple spirit, and a compound tincture. Lavender, however, is much more frequently and more extensively employed as a perfume than medicinally. The flowers are deposited in chests and wardrobes among linen, not only on account of their fragrant smell, but also from an opinion that their odour will prevent the depredations of moths and other insects. ”