" Well-Dressing 65 



being symbolical of truth. Thus was it in harmony with 

 the symbolical adoration of fire and of the heavenly 

 bodies, and with that other elegant practice of doing 

 honour on festal occasions to grand old trees that gave 

 shelter, and to generous ones that yielded fruit, by hang- 

 ing garlands and chaplets upon their branches.* Water, 

 in every age, has been the emblem and representative of 

 truth, thus of virtue, and of everything lovely that truth 

 originates and implies, (as so often manifested in the 

 figurative language of Scripture ;) and the acknowledg- 

 ment of this is fitly rendered by decoration with wreaths 

 of flowers. Fountains and clear streams, are they not, in 

 truth, nature's own emblems of the ever freshly running 

 and limpid flow that pours forth from souls rich in the 

 wisdom of intellect, and in the warmth of noble affec- 

 tions ? There are plenty of references to the practice 

 in question in classic literature. Milton, in "Comus," 

 represents the people as thus honouring their river-god- 

 dess, the good and beautiful Sabrina : 



" The shepherds at their festivals 



Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays ; 



And throw sweet garland-wreaths into her stream, 



Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils." 



Two thousand years ago there were in Italy festivals 

 called Fontinalia, when chaplets were thrown into rivers. 

 The "myrtles" still "rejoice" upon the "shores," but 



* See, upon these usages, the Appendix to Evelyn's "Silva," 

 hook iv., concerning the sacred groves, &c. ; and respecting river- 

 worship, Bryant's "Mythology," i. 192. (Ed. 2, 1775.) 



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