l8o pFaat Isore, 'bege^/, anil Ts^jric/, 



these being all the sacred or double number of Three. In later days, 

 the Shamrock or Trefoil, and the Pansy, or Herb Trinity, were re- 

 garded as symbolising the Trinity. Cruciform flowers are, at the 

 present day, all regarded as of good omen, having been marked 

 with the Sign of the Cross, and thus symbolising Redemption. 



The presence of flowers as symbols and language on the 

 monuments of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, India, and other countries 

 of the past, and the graceful floral adornments sculptured on 

 the temples of the Gra^co-Roman period, demonstrate how great 

 a part flower and plant symbolism played in the early history of 

 mankind. The Jews, learning the art from the Egyptians, pre- 

 served it in their midst, and introduced plant emblems in their 

 Tabernacle, in their Temple, and on the garments of the priests. 

 Flowers with golden rays became symbols of the Sun ; and as the 

 Sun was the giver of life and warmth, the bringer of fertility, tha 

 symbolic flowers stood as symbol-words for these great gifts ; and 

 gradually all the mysterious phenomena connecfted with birth, 

 reproduction, and fecundity, were represented in plant, flower, end 

 fruit symbolism; for not only were flowers early used as a pictorial 

 language, but the priests made use of fruits, herbs, shrubs, and 

 trees to symbolise light, life, warmth, and generation. iLet us take 

 a few examples: — When in the Spring, church altars and fonts are 

 piously adorned with white Lilies, which are, in some countries, 

 carried about, worn, and presented by ladies to each other in the 

 month of May, few of them, we may be sure, imagine that they 

 are perpetuating the plant symbolism of the Sun-worship of 

 ancient Egypt. Miss Marshall tells us that " in Catholic countries 

 the yellow anthers are carefully removed; their white filaments 

 alone are left, not, as folks think, that the flower may remain pure 

 white, but that the fecundating or male organs being removed, the 

 Lilies may be true flower symbols or visible words for pure 

 virgins ; for the white dawn as yet unwedded to the day — for the 

 pure cold Spring as yet yielding no blossoms and Summer fruits." 



Of the flowers consecrated to their deities by the symbol- 

 worshipper of India and Egypt, the most prominent is the sacred 

 Lotus, whose leaf was the "emblem and cradle of creative might." 

 It was anciently revered in Egypt as it is now in Hindustan, 

 Thibet, and Nepaul, where the people believe it was in the con- 

 secrated bosom of this plant that Brahma was born, and that 

 Osiris delights to float. From its peculiar organisation the Lotus 

 is virtually self-productive: hence it became the symbol of the 

 reproductive power of all nature, and was worshipped as a symbol 

 of the All-Creative Power. The same floral symbol occurs wherever 

 in the northern hemisphere symbolic religion has prevailed. The 

 sacred images of the Tartars, Japanese, and Indians are almost 

 all represented as resting upon Lotus-leaves. The Chinese divinity, 

 Puzza, is seated in a Lotus, and the Japanese god is represented 

 sitting in a Water-Lily. The Onion was formerly held in the 



