EMPRESS OF THE FLOWERS 255 

 JOSEPHINE, EMPRESS OF THE FLOWERS 



(From " Picciola ") 



JOSEPHINE 1 herself was an almost idolatrous lover of 

 flowers. ... At Malmaison she reigned despotic over 

 thousands of beauteous subjects collected from all 

 quarters of the globe. She knew them face by face, 

 name by name ; was fond of disposing them in 

 classes, castes, or regiments ; and when some fresh 

 subject presented itself for the first time at her 

 levee, she was able to interrogate the new-comer, 

 so as to ascertain his family and connections, and 

 assign him an appropriate station in the community 

 of which every brigade had its banner, and every 

 banner a fitting standard-bearer. 



Following the example of Napoleon, she respected 

 the laws and customs of those she rendered tribu- 

 tary. Plants of all countries found their native soil 

 and climate restored to them by her providence. 

 Malmaison was a' world in miniature, within whose 

 circumscribed limits were to be found rocks and 

 savannahs, the soil of virgin forests and the sand 

 of the desert, banks of marl or clay, lakes, cascades, 

 and strands liable to inundation. From the heat 

 of a tropical climate you might fly to the refreshing 

 coolness of the temperate zone ; and in these varied 

 specimens of atmosphere and soil flourished, side by 

 side, the various races of vegetative kind, divided 

 only by green edges or an intrenchment of glass 

 windows. 



1 Wife of Napoleon I. 



