INTRODUCTION. 



Portugal laurel ; had the rose and the laurel 

 been unknown, nothing short of a drawing 

 could have described this beautiful plant. 

 In all works of natural history drawings are 

 essential to convey an adequate opinion of 

 the thing wished to be described. And vo- 

 lumes cannot convey to our mind so just an 

 idea of a country, a city, or a single building, 

 as is learnt by one glance of a pictorial re- 

 presentation. To impress a just conception 

 of the persons, habits, and manners, of a 

 strange country without the aid of picture, 

 we might as well try to give the true relish 

 and taste of the pine-apple by words. 



To shew how appropriately the ancients 

 chose their emblems, we have only to men- 

 tion that rotundity was the figure by which 

 they expressed eternity, because it has nei- 

 ther beginning nor end. And this symbol was 

 frequently represented by a serpent bent into 

 the form of a circle, with its tail placed in its 

 mouth. The cock was the emblem of vigi- 

 lance, the lion of strength, the horse of liberty, 



