The Garden, or The Contention of Flowers

Once in my garden as alone I lay,
Some solitary hours to pass away,
My flowers most fair and fresh within my view,
New diamoned2
, watered o’er with Aurora’s3
 dew—
Their names in order I ere4
 long will mention—
There happened amongst them this contention:
Which of them did their fellows all excel
In virtue5
, color, beauty, fashion, smell;
And me they chose for umpire in this play.
Then up I rose, sad thoughts I laid away,
And unto them I instantly replied
That this their controversy I’d decide,
So6
 they would stand to my arbitrament7
.
They, smiling, answered they were all content.
I gave them leave their virtues to declare
That I the better might their worth compare.
And now I humbly do implore the aid
Of that most debonair8
, delicious9
 maid,
Lovely Erato10
, crowned with fragrant flowers,
Who with her virgin sisters spend their hours
By clear Pereus11
, crystal Hippocrene12
,
Sweet Helicon or Tempe’s flowery green13
:
Fair Thespian14
 ladies, all I ask of you,
Is that I give to every flower her due.
The Woodbine
First spoke the Double Woodbine15
 wondrous fair,
Whose aromatic breath perfumed the air,
Saying: “I am confident all that can smell
Or see will say that I the rest excel.
Why am I placed else ’bout princely bowers16
,
Shading their arbors17
 and their stately towers?
I did about Idalia’s18
 arbor grow,
Her bower of love, when youthful blood did flow
In old Anchises’s19
 veins; there  he did rest
His rosy cheeks upon her lily breast,
Whose love produced the happy Julian race20
.
Therefore (of all) give me the chiefest place.
Oft hath Diana21
 underneath my shade
To enrich some fountain her unready made22
,
Disclosing then to my admiring eye
Those beauties which whoso doth pry
Into, let him—O let him—still beware,
Lest in Actaeon’s punishment23
 he share.
Do but observe the Amazonian bee24
Come to this garden: she no flower25
 can see
That can with mel26
 and nectar her supply;
My cornucopia27
 doth her satisfy.
Then of precedency I need not doubt,
’Cause I perfume your going in and out28
.”
The Tulip to the Woodbine then replied:
“I am amazed at thy infinite pride.
Dost thou presume, or canst thou once suppose,
To lead impartial Justice by the nose29
?
Because thou yieldest a pleasant spicy smell,
Therefore all other flowers thou must excel?
What though thy limber30
, dangling flowers hover,
Hiding some wanton and her wanton lover—
Though Venus and her paramour it be?
A maquerella be, alone; for me31
,
I scorn that office32
 as I do thy pride.
Yet am I in a thousand colors dyed,
And though my seed be sown a hundred year
Yet still in newer colors I appear33
;
And if of other flowers there were none,
A garden might be made of me alone,
And Flora’s mantle34
 might embroidered be,
As rich as now it is, by none but me.
That glorious king that had what’s heart desired35
Was never in his throne so rich attired
As I, nor in such various colors dressed;
Therefore I well may queen be of the rest.
The Turkish turbans36
 do enlarge our fames,
And we are honored by a thousand names37
Which would vainglory be here to rehearse,
Seeing they are known throughout the universe.
Besides my beauty, I have virtue store38
;
My roots decayed nature doth restore39
.
Then let another speak that can say more.”
The Wallflower or Heartsease
“Then,” said the Wallflower, “Neither show nor smell
(By my content)40
 but virtue bears the bell41
;
For certainly, if sweetness bore the sway42
,
Then am I sure to bear the prize away.
If show, my flowers are stately to behold:
Some red, some white, and some like burnished gold.
But if you’ll give to virtue all her due,
My worth doth far excel my golden hue.
Such rare inherent virtue doth inherit43
Within my smell, by cheering of men’s spirit,
All turbulent passions I am known to appease,
My vulgar nomination44
 being “Heartsease.”45
Besides, I do not for a fit46
 appear,
As doth the Tulip, but I all the year
Perfume the air, to gardens add such grace
That I without presumption may take place
Above the rest (though not like tulips painted47
).
For beauty never yet made woman sainted;
’Tis virtue doth immortalize their name,
And makes an aromatic, splendent48
 fame.
About this orb49
her50
 numerous names she rings;
So may Euphrates51
 boast her thousand springs.
Whilst Nile’s head is occult52
, one only name
She glories in; yet of emergent fame
She53
, vaporing54
, brags that she is stuck about
The wretched turban of the pagan rout55
.
Such honor as dishonor I should scorn,
And rather choose as I am to be worn
Upon some lovely modest virgin’s breast,
Where all the Graces56
 do triumphant rest.”
The Lily smiled and said she did admire
The Wallflower’s boldness and her bold desire.
“Because she breathes a suffocating fume,
Must she (O strange!) above the rest presume?
I am amazéd that57
 her arrogance,
Proceeding from her sordid ignorance
Of others’ worth, makes her extol her own;
For noble virtues, trust me, she has none.
Her color doth proclaim her jealousy58
,
But I’m an emblem of pure inno’cy59
.
Spotless60
 my thoughts, as spotless are my leaves,
While Chastity61
 her lover ne’er deceives;
And what, I wonder, were a virgin’s due,
Had not her skin my lily’s lily hue?
Even as62
 the Woodbine wittily expressed
When she compared me to Idalia’s breast.
White are my leaves, as Albion’s snowy cliff63
,
Or higher Alps, or highest Tenerife64
;
White as the swans on sweet Hibernia’s streams65
,
Or Cynthia’s bright, or Delius’s brighter beams66
.
For white all other colors doth excel
As much as day doth night, or Heaven doth Hell.
For it is chiefly Heaven’s privation
Makes men in a hell of desperation.
What are the horrid gloomy shades of night
But the departure of all-quick’ning67
 light?
And what are colors? Reason says, not I,
Nothing but want of my white purity68
.
I here could brag, but will not, of the feast
The Persians make69
: this honors me the least
Of all the rest70
. Of virtues I may boast,
For if my roots they do but boil or roast,
And them to pestilential71
 sores apply,
Probatum est72
: it cures them instantly.
But my antagonist here of the wall73
In such a time’s away thrown, flowers and all.”
At this, the blood flushed in the Rose’s face
To hear the Lily speak in her74
 disgrace.
As she then said, “Whose pride was grown so high
That she presumes to boast virginity,
Though scorned by all? Daring to show her face
And plead precedency (and I in place)75
,
When in each lovely maid and Chloris’s76
 cheek
I conquer her? Her leaves I know are sleek,
And so are mine! She brags on such a fashion
As if light, virtue, joy, were but privation77
,
As if an unwrit volume were the best,
Before Heaven’s love were in the leaves expressed.
I’m slighted78
 now, but in the former age
I consecrated was to epic’rage79
;
When Liber Pater’s80
 wine and wit o’erflows,
None dares to speak but underneath the rose81
.
And certainly my flowers were in request
When those heroic houses82
 in their crest
Did stick my rose: York gloried in the white;
Great Lancaster did in the red delight.
But as my fame, so it increased my woe
To see our fields with princely blood o’erflow.
Nay more, the Orient kingdoms to my praise
In honor of my birth keep fourteen days83
,
And in Damascus yearly they distill
As much rosewater as will drive a mill84
.
Do but observe when as the virgin crew
Comes to this garden (newly pearled with dew)
To make their anadems85
: they fill their laps
With other flowers; betwixt their snowy paps86
I am triumphant. On that ivory throne
I sit envied of all, usurped of none.
Sometime I slide into that milky vale
Between those snowy hills called Cupid’s dale.
There freely I those living cherries kiss;
Lilies look pale in envy of my bliss.
Then seeing I of all am most in grace
With your sweet sex, give me the chiefest place.
Here, if list87
 to boast my heavenly birth,
I could declare not88
 sprung from dunghill earth
As Aborigines89
; I and the fruitful rice,
To enrich mankind, dropped down from paradise90
.
Witness the Alcoran91
, where also, ’tis said,
By smelling to a rose that blessed maid92
Brought forth a son, a wonder to rehearse93
,
The sole restorer of the universe.
Look at those nuptials where you may behold
The stately structure shine with burnished gold, 
The gorgeous chamber and the bride ale bread94
With roses and no other flowers is spread;
And still-enjoying95
 lovers’ youthful brows
Are with my roses crowned and myrtle boughs.
Observe the rising luster of the morn,
How she with roses doth her head adorn:
Above the rest I’m honored by Aurora
And by my patroness, fair lovely Flora.
I’m so much favored that no flower but I
Between her snowy breasts doth dare to lie.
Besides the beauty and the sweet delight,
My flowers yield my virtues96
 infinite.
I cool, I purge, I comfort, and restore;
Then who, I wonder, can desire more?
If for the worthiest you the prize reserve,
The chiefest place I’m sure I do deserve.
The gaudy Poppy lift97
 her head aloft,
Saying in earnest, “I have wondered oft
To see the rose so filled with pride and scorn,
As if an orient tincture98
 did adorn
No cheek but hers, because she’s always worn
(O how I loath’t99
) betwixt the sweaty paps!
Or else she’s thrust into the dirty laps
Of wanton flirts! Better outshine the day
As I do, and my beauty to display
Unto the gazing, wond’ring passerby,
Who stands amazed at my variety.
She brags the Cyprian lady100
 loves her best,
But did she ever give a goddess rest101
,
As I have done? When overwatched102
 with grief
Great Ceres103
 was, by sleep I gave relief
Unto her tired spirit when she ran after
That black-browed104
knave that stole away her daughter105
.
If she of color boast, then so may I:
What flowers at distance more delights the eye?
And where she brags of ushering in Aurora,
And dressing of the head of dainty Flora,
’Tis true I do not tend upon the morn,
Yet do I Chloris’s youthful robe adorn
As well as she; and when Night, silent queen,
Triumphant in her ebon106
 coach, is seen,
I strew her paths as she doth conquering ride107
.
What flower, I wonder, dares do so beside?
And when in soft and downy arms
She108
 lullabies the world with potent charms,
The vapor of my flowers doth slyly creep
To troubled mortals, causing them to sleep.
I would our arbitratrix109
 would but take
My flowers or seed: I’m confident ’twould make
Her sleep and rest and dreams by far more quiet
Than Paracelsus’s rules110
 or Lessius’s diet111
.
Nay, more: more seeds one of my poppies bear
Than in a hundred gardens roses are!
I can but laugh at that ridiculous dream
Of springing from that grand impostor’s steam112
!
Such fopperies113
 I credit shall as soon
As that he hollowed down the splendent Moon114
.
O me, what solifidian115
 can believe
That he116
 should put one half into his sleeve,
The other made a zone for Mortis Ali117
?
Thus with their faith these miscreants118
 do dally!
Then, I conclude, she virtue wants or fame119
,
Boasting of that which I should count my shame.
Let me and mine rise from the new-plowed earth
While she proclaims her excrementous120
 birth.”
The bashful violet then her head upheaves,
She being veiled o’er before with leaves.
Then, sighing forth a cool and sweet perfume,
She said the Poppy did too much presume;
Then, trickling down a tear, “Ah me,” she said,
“I well remember when I was a maid,
My beauty did a deity inflame121
;
And must I now (O strange!) contend for fame122
?
Let me not breathe; her123
 pride doth me confound.
I was a lady once, for beauty crowned,
Till Delia124
 did unloose my virgin zone125
;
Since when, in silent shades I make my moan;
Yet sure for shame my face I need not cover.
Who would not glory in so brave a lover?
And in our umpire’s love I well may rest,
She using oft to wear me in her breast;
But as for you126
, you ne’er attained that grace
Her127
 to adorn, or in her house had place,
For none her128
 loathsome savor can abide,
Unless by her they would be stupefied129
.
Were here not others of more worth than she,
I need not strive: the prize would fall to me.
Nocturna130
 favors her, she doth pretend;
And must she therefore all the rest transcend?
That old deforméd, purblind slut131
 wants sight
To judge of beauty, or at least wants light.
But I perfume the air with fair Aurora,
And grace the paps and robes of lovely Flora.
She132
 tells long stories of the ravished queen
Of Erebus133
; in this her pride is seen.
I wonder at her arrogance and madness,
To dream of curing our decider’s134
 sadness,
When her sad heart’s so overcharged with grief
That physic’s135
 art can give her no relief.
For I have heard her often, sighing, say
Nothing would ease her but her dying day;
Nothing would cure her till the dead did rise
In glory; then and not before, her eyes
Would cease for sin and sorrow to o’erflow.
But after her my passion must not go136
.
Although I am not like the poppy pied137
,
Yet is my vest in princely purple dyed,
And in those colors that adorn the sky,
Than which none is more pleasing to the eye.
In sickness and in health I am respected;
Then let me not (for shame) be now neglected.
The Poppy says she rocks the world asleep,
And, bragging, such a racket she doth keep
That she forgets (I am afraid) the duty
That all do vow to virtue and to beauty.
The Heliotrope
The Heliotropium138
 then began to vapor139
,
Saying, “I vow, by yonder blazing taper140
Which gives to all both light and influence,
I am confounded at her141
 impudence!”
Then, staring on the sun, “Behold,” she said,
“To view his fulgent142
 face I’m not afraid;
When he in pride and splendor doth arise,
Unto the orient143
 I throw my eyes;
And as he mounts up the Olympic hill144
,
With amorous glances I pursue him still;
And when he’s zenith145
, I, as ’tis my duty,
Am fixed admiring his refulgent146
 beauty;
But when he doth descend to Tethyss’s147
 deep,
To part with him in golden tears I weep;
But she (poor girl), an unregarded flower,
To view his radiant face hath not the power;
But in some silent, sad, neglected shades
She (despicable she) buds, blooms, and fades,
Whilst I unto the wondering world display
My beauty, creating either night or day;
When I contract my leaves, my love148
 his light,
Then all this globe’s involved in horrid night;
But when we do our golden curls unfold,
All are exhilarated to behold
Our love and light. I wonder she should dare
With Phœbus’s149
 famous favorite to compare.
Most foolishly she vaunts her birth is high,
And that her robes are dipped in Tyrian dye150
;
When as the vesture151
 which my limbs unfold
Are youthful green, fringéd with burnished gold.
She brags the female sex esteem her best
And that she sits triumphant on their breast.
A rush152
 I care not for that scornful crew,
For did I grow as far above their view
As from their reach, trust me, I should rejoice;
For brave Hyperion153
 is my soul’s sole choice.
She says my love her ceston154
 did untie
But now he scorns on her to cast an eye,
’Cause enviously she made Leucothoe die155
E’er since he hath refused her wanton bed,
Since when, ashamed, she hides her guilty head.
She vaunts that she perfumes the breath of Flora;
Some dress the golden tresses of Aurora;
Some of the goddesses tells tedious stories,
And fondly156
 think to shine by others’ glories;
Some of the Eleusian lady157
 wonders tell,
And others fetch Persephone from Hell;
Some of fair Erycina’s158
 favor brag,
And Acheron’s wife159
 with antic160
black-browed161
 hag;
Thus they for trophies rake162
 Hell and night
Whilst I stand glorying in the God of Light.
The Auricula
The Auricula, in brave Thaumantias’s hue163
,
Whose shadowed robes were diamoned o’er with dew,
From her bright eyes let fall a shower of tears
Which hung like pendant pearls about her ears;
Then, shaking of her head, she said, “Alas!
Why do I live to see this come to pass?
Why did the impartial Parcae164
 twist my thread?
Why from the chaos did I lift my head?
Were’t not for the inevitable laws
Of destiny, I would shrink into my cause165
,
And rather make it my choice to be nighted
Eternally, than live to be thus slighted.
Nay, I had rather choose annihilation
Then hear the Flos Solis’s166
 ostentation!
Here’s many gallant167
 flowers conscious be
Of their own wants168
, which silent stand (you see)
And yet have infinitely more worth than she!
Yet we must all stand mute to hear her prattle:
Dear heart! How my ears tingle with her tattle169
.
The Flower-De-Luce
The Caledonian Iris170
 then addressed
Herself to speak, being chosen by the rest,
And said, “I would this trial were in France,
For there my favorites I could all advance;
For in the king’s paternal coat171
 I’m borne,
And, being transplanted, my brave flowers adorn
And luster add to the imperial race172
:
England, Navarre, Piedmont173
 my flowers grace.
The Caledonian lion174
 is protected
By me alone; must I then be neglected?
What doth avail that I from Heaven came down
To stick my flower-de-luces in the crown
Of famous Clodoneus175
? If I must
Give place to these176
, then let me turn to dust!
For trust me, I had rather be calcined177
Than live and be by mountaineers178
 outshined.
What boots it me179
 that all the world doth know
My princely vesture’s like the heavenly bow180
,
Great Juno’s legate181
, on whose shining breast
Heaven’s love in dewy character’s expressed?182
What doth’t183
 advantage me to bear her184
 name,
If I with such as these185
 must strive for fame186
?
What gain I that my roots a choice perfume187
,
If flowers of base extraction188
 thus presume,
And enviously my glory thus impede,
And so audaciously before me plead?
I have hitherto triumphed, and must I now,
Flora defend189
, to meaner190
 beauties bow?
She from the Alps191
, and I from heaven descended;
If she prevails, she’s infinitely befriended192
.
Do but behold my strange variety:
Sometimes my robes are like the azure193
 sky;
Then I in purple my fair limbs enfold;
Then richly wrought with silver, black, and gold:
Nay, more: the tears which trickle down my face
(Or Pliny194
 lies) doth propagate my race195
.
If those whose beauty do the rest outshine
Triumphant be, the prize is only mine.
The Gillyflower
The admired Gillyflower did sweetly smile,
Saying, “I have been silent all this while,
Not doubting others would extol my beauty,
But find contempt where I expected duty.
Trust me, I wonder such high thoughts should soar
In vulgar196
 brains not copious197
 enough t’explore
The worth of those whom all that know adore;
Yet base detracting ways of pride I scorn
With others’ vice my virtue to adorn.
Ladies, refuse me, if I vilipend198
The simplest simple199
, that I may transcend200
;
Nor never let me your fair breast adorn,
But (which I so abhor) let me be worn
By base plebeians201
 and the Hydrian crew202
:
Nor never let Aurora’s pearly dew
Like gems bestud my robes at her arise,
For which I breathe an early sacrifice
Of aromatic odors which perfume
The ambient air; nor let no flower presume
Above her sphere, nor yet her place surrender:
My luster is not darkened by their splendor.
Like as th’illustrious globe, the sun,
Gives leave to other orbs their course to run,
Whilst they incessantly still trundle round
The vast circumference of his glorious mound,
They following each his own intelligence,
Whilst he to all gives light, life, influence:
So may each flower in her pride appear
And with their various beauties grace the year.
I not deny203
 they may our queen204
 attend
As well as I; yet I them all transcend.
Did I but doubt205
 our arbitress206
 would deal
Injuriously207
, to Chloris I would appeal;
But obvious ’tis within her208
 constant breast
Lovely Astraea209
 doth triumphant rest.
To her I’ll yield then: let her freely judge;
At her decision, trust me, I’ll not grudge.
Let her but mark my sweet variety,
Which satisfies without satiety210
:
Sometimes my robes are like the gentianella211
;
Then I am paler like the asphodel212
;
Sometimes my curious fancy213
 takes delight
To mix their azure with the lily’s white;
Oft times in purple I myself attire;
Then scarlet, pink, and peach are my desire.
Thus every color in my leaves are mixed.
Nature such beauty in my flowers hath fixed
That all to wear my flowers take delight;
I cheer the spirits and refresh the sight.
Nay, did I not to sadness give relief,
She that decides our strife had failed with grief.
Then judge if I am not of ample214
 fame
When sects, mounts, cities, kingdoms, bear my name215
.
Now, having spoke216
, no favor I implore:
Let any flower speak that can say more.
Then young Adonis217
lapped218
 his robe about him
And said he hoped they’d choose no chief without him:
“For had I kept my shape as well as name,
Then had I not stood here to plead for fame!
Fool that I was, had I not been so coy,
I had been still fair Aphrodite her219
 joy.
Great Juno’s son220
 grew jealous and enraged
To see his love to me alone engaged;
But I, a foolish proud and scornful boy,
What others longed for, I esteemed a toy.
Oft have we lay in the Idalian shade,
Where curious anadems my goddess made,
Twirling with her white fingers myrtle boughs
Being woven with roses to adorn our brows
Of221
 red and white; the yellow we threw by,
’Cause perfect love should be sans222
jealousy223
.
Sometimes she would sweetly tell me ancient stories,
Still mixing them with her transcendent glories
Of the transforming to some beast or flower
For their contemning224
 of her love or power;
But I her courtship and her counsel slighted
With hunting cruel beasts I was delighted;
But (O, my fate) chasing the hideous boar,
He turned and with his tusks my entrails tore,
Which my fair love225
 did infinitely deplore226
.
The mixture of my blood, her brackish227
 tears,
And the influence of her eye my flower uprears228
.
When she perceived that from my blood it sprung,
This scarlet mantle229
 she about me flung,
Saying, ‘My love, this vesture230
 were for me,
And I between my breasts will still wear thee.’
Thus am I proud to triumph on that throne
Which once I scorned231
, and certainly ther’re none
But envies me, now in my second story232
,
Though infinitely more in my first glory.
Thus was I metamorphized to a flower
By that enamored lovely lady’s power;
And happy ’tis that in a plant I shine:
Others, enslaved to her, their shapes resign
To loathsome beasts, as wise Ulysses’s friends
By Circe’s sorceries233
. Then, seeing I delighted
Fair Erycina, let me not be slighted.
More I could say to magnify my fame:
In Palestine’s a river of my name234
,
Which at my annual feast to blood doth turn;
Those crystal waves for me in purple mourn.
There by the lapséd Jews I am adored235
,
And under Thammuz’s name I am deplored.
Then will I not prejudicate236
 your piety;
I am sure all here will yield unto a deity.”
Now237
, seeing the motion of the sun or earth
Doth end the day as it began its birth,
We’ll (if you please) prorogue238
 this parliament.
They bowed their grateful heads and gave consent.
And when Aurora lends to us more light,
I will return; till then, to all good night.
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