104 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CULTURE OF FLOWERS. 



his table. Now the union of books and flowers is more particularly 

 agreeable. Nothing, in my view, is half so delightful as a library 

 set off with these beautiful productions of the earth during summer, 

 or, indeed, any season of the year. A library or study, opening on 

 green turf, and having the view of a distant rugged country, with a 

 peep at the ocean between hills, a small fertile space forming the 

 nearest ground, and an easy chair and books, is just as much of local 

 enjoyment as a thinking man can desire. I reck not if under a 

 thatched or slated roof, to me it is the same thing. A favourite author 

 on my table, in the midst of my bouquets, and I speedily forget how 

 the rest of the world wags. I fancy I am enjoying nature and art 

 together, a consummation of luxury that never palls upon the appe- 

 tite — a dessert of uncloying sweets. 



There is something delightful in the use which the Eastern poets, 

 particularly the Persian, make of flowers in their poetry. Their 

 allusions are not casual, and in the way of metaphor and simile only ; 

 they seem really to hold them in high admiration. I am not aware 

 that the flowers of Persia, except the rose, are more beautiful or 

 more various than those of other countries. Perhaps England, in- 

 cluding her gardens, green-houses, and fields, having introduced a 

 vast variety from every climate, may exhibit a list unrivalled, as a 

 whole, in odour and beauty. Yet flowers are not with us held in such 

 high estimation as among the Orientals, if we are to judge from their 

 poets. 



Bowers of roses and flowers are perpetually alluded to in the 

 writings of Eastern poets. The Turks, and indeed the Orientals in 

 general, have few images of voluptuousness without the richest flowers 

 contributing towards them. The noblest palaces, where gilding, 

 damask, and fine carpeting abound, would be essentially wanting in 

 luxury without flowers. It cannot be from their odour alone that 

 they are thus identified with pleasure ; it is from their union of ex- 

 quisite hues, fragrance, and beautiful forms that they raise a senti- 

 ment of voluptuousness in the mind; for whatever unites these 

 qualities can scarcely do otherwise. 



Whoever virtuously despises the opinion that simple and cheap 

 pleasures, not ouly good, but in the very best taste, are of no value 

 because they want a meretricious raiily, will fill their apartments 

 with a succession of our better garden flowers. It has been said that 



