XX INTRODUCTION. 



blematical uses; and, as a matter of amuse- 

 ment to our fair readers, we have devised 

 emblems for such flowers as were unknown in 

 the eastern nations, or of which the allegori- 

 cal relations have hitherto escaped our re- 

 search. 



Having frequent occasion in this history 

 of flowers to allude to the garland of Julia, it 

 may not be improper to notice that this cele- 

 brated manuscript was a piece of ingenious 

 gallantry of the Duke de Montausier toward 

 the beautiful Julia de Rambouillet. After he 

 had gained the promise of his mistress's hand, 

 he was, according to an ancient custom, 

 (which in France is still observed,) to send 

 every morning to his future bride, till the wed- 

 ding day, a nosegay of the finest flowers of the 

 season. But he did not stop here : he had 

 painted on vellum by the best artists, in a 

 folio volume magnificently bound, the finest 

 cultivated flowers ; and all the most distin- 

 guished poets of the day divided amongst 

 themselves the task of making verses upon 

 the flowers. The great Corneille wrote for 

 the Orange Flower and the Everlasting. Julia, 



