Xii INTRODUCTION. 



Hail! bounteous May, that doth inspire 

 Mirth and youth, and warm desire ; 

 Woods and groves are of thy dressing, 

 Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. 



In eastern nations flowers and perfumes 

 have been considered as one of the indispen- 

 sable enjoyments of the higher classes of 

 society, from the remotest antiquity. From 

 those nations the Romans appear to have 

 borrowed this delicate refinement, and to 

 have carried it to the utmost excess in their 

 costly entertainments. They soon began to 

 consider flowers as forming- a very essential 

 article in their festal preparations ; and it is 

 the opinion of Baccius, that at their desserts 

 the number of their flowers far exceeded that 

 of their fruits. The odour of flowers was 

 thought to arouse the fainting appetite, and 

 they certainly must have added an ethereal 

 enjoyment to the grosser pleasures of their 

 banqueting boards. 



Flowers were not only used as a stimulus 

 to the palate, or that two senses might be 

 gratified at one time, but it was thought that 

 certain plants and flowers facilitated the 

 functions of the brain, and assisted mate- 



