36 



AN ESSAY ON FLOWERS. 



physical tendency to seize on rare and im- 

 pressive analogies, has drawn a comparison 

 from this flower which strikes me as one of 

 the most poetical as well as felicitous in 

 modern literature. Speakin ; of the zest for 

 new truth felt by those ali-eady well instructed, 

 as compared with the indifferent mental ap- 

 petite of the ignorant, he says, " The water- 

 lily, in the midst of waters, opens its leaves 

 and expands its petals at the first pattering 

 of the shower, and rejoices in the rain-drops 

 with a quicker sympathy than the parched 

 shrub in the sandy desert." The dreamy, 

 half sensuous, and half ideal nature of Ten- 

 nyson, is naturally attracted by the SAveet 

 ravishment innate in the breath and juices of 

 some flowers. He is fitted keenly to appre- 

 ciate the luxurious indolence and fanciful ec- 

 stasy thus induced ; and, therefore, one of 

 the most effective and original of his poems is 

 " The Lotus Eaters." Moore's famous im- 

 age of the sunflower is a constant bone of 

 contention between horticulturists and poets ; 

 the former asserting that it does not turn 

 round with the luminary it is supposed to 

 adore, but is as fixed on its stalk as any other 

 flower ; and the latter declaring that the 

 metaphor " se tion e vero, e be?i travato.''^ 



Few plants are more graceful or versatile 

 in contour than the fern. One can scarcely 

 pass a group without recalling that line of 

 Scott, which so aptly describes the utter lull 

 of the air : 



" There is uo breeze upon the fern, no ripple on the lake." 



And what figure of rhetoric better suggests 

 the caprice of woman than that which has 

 almost become proverbial since it was incor- 

 porated in his spirited verse : 



" variable as the shade 



By the light, quivering; aspen made!" 



Goldsmith's sympathy with the rural and 

 human is associated intimately with the haw"- 

 thorn, " for whispering lovers made." Rose- 

 mary has been more emblematic of remem- 

 brance, since it was so offered by the " fair 

 Ophelia ;" and Heart's-ease is consecrated by 

 the splendid compliment to " the virgin throned 

 by the "West," to which it is indebted for the 

 name of "love-in-idleness." The epicurean 

 utilitarianism of Leigh Hunt recognised " com- 

 fort" in the feel of a geranium leaf; and who 

 that has read with appreciation Miss Barrett's 

 fine poem, elaborating the beautiful sentiment 



of the Bible, " He giveth his beloved sleep," 

 can see a poppy, that gorgeous emblem of the 

 drowsy god, without a benisou on the thought- 

 ful lyrist ? ^ I think that the yellow broom 

 must have originally flourished in lonely pla- 

 ces. For hours, I followed a mule-path in 

 the most deserted part of Sicily, cheerful with 

 its blossoms, whose rich yet delicate odor 

 embalmed the air ; hence the significance of 

 Shakspeare's allusion to this flower, "which 

 the dismissed bachelor loves, being lass-lorn." 

 Campbell must have had an oppressive sense 

 of the poisonous horror of night-shade, from 

 his reference to it, in the protest against 

 scepticism, as the natural companion of dis- 

 may. I have always thought the thistle an 

 apposite symbol, not only of Scotland, but of 

 her martyred queen — "its fragrant down set 

 round with thorns, and rifled by the bee." 



One of the most popular tales of the day — 

 "Picciola" — is based upon the interest which 

 a single flower may excite when it is the sole 

 companion of a prisoner ; and the favor this 

 little romance has enjoyed, proves how natu- 

 ral is the sentiment it unfolds. The most 

 severely religious minds, however indifferent 

 to art or scener.y, are not infrequently alive 

 to this feeling ; the constant allusion to flow- 

 ers, in a metaphorical way, in the Scriptures ; 

 the rich poetical meaning attached to them in 

 the East ; the lily that always appears in pic- 

 tures of the Annunciation ; the palm-leaves 

 strewed in our Saviour's path ; the crown 

 of thorns woven for his brow, and his declara- 

 tion of the field lilies, " that Solomon in all 

 his glory was not arrayed like one of them" 

 — indicating that his pure eyes had momen- 

 tarily rested on their familiar beauty — lend to 

 such persons a hallowed sense of their at- 

 tractiveness. There is yet another reason for 

 this exception to a prosaic view of what is 

 merely charming in itself, which those dis- 

 posed to bigotry make in favor of flowers. It 

 is that they symbolize immortality. No com- 

 mon figure of speech is more impressive to 

 the peasant than that which bids him see a 

 " type of resurrection and second birth," in 

 the germination of the seed, its growth, de- 

 velopment, and blossoming. Again, too, there 

 are the associations of childhood, whose first 

 and most innocent acquisitions were gathered 

 flowers, emblems of its own exuberance, offer- 

 ings of its primitive love. I imagine the 

 sense of colour — now regarded as a separate 



