286 THE LANGUAGE 



dedication of flowers to particular personages has been fol- 

 lowed by the Roman Catholics x to such an extent t]iat there 

 is hardly a saint in the calendar, to whose memory some 

 flower has not been consecrated. 



The flowers dedicated to each saint are such as bloom at 

 or near the time of that saint's festival, so that a festival and 

 a flower are appropriated to each day in the year. The 

 curious reader may desire to see a few examples of this 

 method of commemorating the memory of the sainted dead. 



January. 



4. HAZEL, Corylus avellana. St. Titus, disciple of St. 

 Paul. 



15. IVY. Hedera helix. St. Paul, the first hermit. 



17. ANEMONE, Anemone hortensis. St. Anthony, patriarch 



of monks, died 251. . 

 29. FERN, Osmunda regalis. St. Francis of Sales, 1622. 



February. 



5. RED PRIMROSE. Primula acaulis. St. Adalaide, 1015. 

 14. YELLOW CROCUS. Crocus aureus. St. Valentine, the 



lover's saint. He was a priest at Rome, and married in 

 270. 



16. PRIMROSE. Primula acaulis plena. St. Juliana. 



The figures on the left indicate the days of the month on 

 which the festivals of the several saints fall ; and these are 

 examples of the manner in which the calendar is continued 

 for every month and day in the year. 



Still more recently, the Turks, and Spaniards, and after 

 them, the French and English, have made flowers the em- 

 blems of sentiment and passion, until at the present day, there 

 is hardly a plant which does riot signify some internal emo- 

 tion, or a sentiment of the heart, which may not be shadowed 

 forth by some property of a plant, or flower. In order, there- 

 fore, to keep pace with the improvements and refinement of 

 the times, we here present our sentimental friends with an 

 alphabetical arrangement of the flowers and plants, on the 

 virtues, qualities, or forms of which, some emotion of the 

 mind, or heart, may be predicated. This list might have 

 been greatly extended, by including foreign plants, whose 

 names and properties are not generally known to my fair 

 readers, and this may still be done if this specimen proves 

 acceptable to their minds. 



