70 SCULPTURAL DECORATIONS. 



and have supplied the most beautiful, and perhaps 

 the earliest, embellishments of art. The pome- 

 granate, the almond, and flowers, were selected, 

 even in the wilderness, by divine appointment, to 

 give form to the sacred utensils ; the rewards of 

 merit, the wreath of the victor, were arboraceous ; 

 in later periods, the acanthus, the ivy, the lotus, 

 the vine, the palm, and the oak, flourished under 

 the chisel, or in the loom of the artist ; and in 

 modern days, the vegetable world affords the 

 almost exclusive decorations of ingenuity and art. 

 The cultivation of flowers is of all the amusements 

 of mankind the one to be selected and approved 

 as the most innocent in itself, and most perfectly 

 devoid of injury or annoyance to others; the em- 

 ployment is not only conducive to health and peace 

 of mind, but probably more good-will has arisen, 

 and friendships been founded by the intercourse 

 and communication connected with this pursuit, 

 than from any other whatsoever : the pleasures, the 

 ectasies of the horticulturist are harmless and pure ; 

 a streak, a tint, a shade, becomes his triumph, 

 which, though often obtained by chance, are secured 

 alone by morning care, by evening caution, and the 

 vigilance of days : an employ which, in its various 

 grades, excludes neither the opulent nor the indi- 

 gent, and, teeming with boundless variety, affords 

 an unceasing excitement to emulation without con- 

 tention or ill-will. 



The bouquet may be an exile now ; but the revo- 

 lutions of fashion will surely return this beautiful 



