80 THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



" flowers, 



My early visitation and my last 

 At even, which I had bred up with tender hand 

 From the first opening bud, and gave ye names, 

 Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank 

 Your tribes, and water from the ambrosial fount ? " 



Par. Lost, xi. 



We cannot but admire the practice of the Church 

 of Rome, which calls in the aid of floral decorations 

 on her high festivals. Though we feel convinced 

 that it is the most bounden duty of the Church of 

 England, at the present moment, to give no un- 

 necessary offence by restorations in indifferent mat- 

 ters, we should be inclined to advocate, notwith- 

 standing the denunciations of some of the early 

 Fathers, an exception in the case of our own 

 favourites. We shall not easily forget the effect of 

 a long avenue of orange-trees in the Cathedral of 

 St. Gudule at Brussels, calling to mind as it did the 

 expression of the Psalmist " Those that be planted 

 in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts 

 of our God." The white lily is held throughout 

 Spain and Italy the emblem of the Virgin's purity, 

 and frequently decorates her shrines ; and many 

 other flowers, dedicated to some saint, are used in 

 profusion on the day of his celebration. The oak- 

 leaf and the palm-branch have with us their loyal 

 and religious anniversary, and the holly still gladdens 

 the hearts of all good Churchmen at Christmas a 

 custom which the Puritans never succeeded in 

 effacing from the most cant-ridden parish in the 

 kingdom. Latterly, flowers have been much used 

 among us in festivals, and processions, and gala-days 



