Scents

Southland Times, Issue 10210, 17 July 1889, Page 4

Scents

The taste for perfumes reached its climax in the time of Cleopatra, who made* a lavish use of them always, but more especially on the occasion of her first interview with Mark Antony, the memory of which has been preserved by Shakespeare. The habit of using perfumes was transmitted by the Egyptians to the Jews, and from them it passed to the Af Syrians, the Greeks,;tbe Romans, the Arabs, and to the nations of modern Europe. Avicenna, an Arabian doctor wbo flouriahed in the tenth century, is said to have invented the art of extracting the aromatic or medi cinal principle's of flowers and plants by means of distillation ; hitherto only scented resins and --pices had been used in the making of perfumes. He succeeded m producing rose-water, which was soon made in laTge quantities. It is said tbat when Baladin entered Jerusalem; in 1187, he had the floor and walls of Omar's Mo*?que entirely washed with it. This delicious scent is still a favourite in the East ; tbe stranger is welcorned by being Bprinkled with rose-water, and when again the censer is directed to> wards the visitor, it is taken as a hint that the reception w.a.t an end. . There are few countries in the world equal to India for the abundance and variety ofits flowers, and we find that perfumes have been used there from very early times. Per.umes are so constantly used in China tbat tbere are ten thousand makers in the province of Canton alone. When the mandarins come to pay their respects to their monarch, incense is burned ; the same cere- ; j-hony ;'iß*. observed if he is abient, the homage being then offered before tbe empty chair of ■tate. Perfume is also ÜBed at the Chinese funerals. Passing into Britain, we find that the Druids appear to have known and highly valued the aromatic plants indigenous to the soil ; the Druidesses crowaed their brows with verbena,. and compounded balms with fragrant herbs, but perfumes do hot seem to .have been used in Druidical worship. We owe to the Romans the introduction of civilisation, and the luxuries that followed in its train ; but for a long period perfumery was too costly for use in Europe, except in the rites of the Church and in Court ceremonial!. It appears that fragrant herbs were sold by apothecaries, who in London, lived mostly in Bucklersbury. Shakespeare says :— « Smelling as sweet as Bueklersbury in simpling time.'' These fragrant herbs in. eluded all aromatics then used. The floors of the rooms were strewed with sweet rushes, or scented with sweet wafers ; the churches were perfumed with scent in the winter, with flowers in the summer. There is an allusion to the custom of perfuming the floors in Marlow's 'Dr Faustus.' Pride enters, saying. ' Fye 1 what a smell is bere I I'll not speak another word for a king's ransom, unleßs the ground is perfumed.' Perfumes were used to fumigate the sheets, and the practice of placing lavender amongst sheets and clothes tokeep them sweet gave rise to the current phrase for 'to pawn,' which was ' to lay in lavender.' Ben Jonsonj in ' Every Man out of His Humour,' refers to a black Satin suit which • for the more sweet'ning now lies in lavender.' Lavender was alio considered an emblem of afEection. Drayton saysHe for his lass him lavender hath sent, Showing his love, and doth requital crave Mu*k and civet were also much used, and are frequently noticed by the writers of the day, —from the Woman's World for April,