GENERAL REMARKS. 59 



or have been involved in the revolutions and subversions of em- 

 pires, while a simple flower has escaped them all, and still remains 

 to tell its story. It has seen a hundred generations succeed each 

 other, and pass away ; it has traveled through ages without 

 changing its destiny or losing its character : the homage ren- 

 dered and the love borne it has been always the same : now, as 

 in the earliest periods of the world's histoiy, it is decreed the first 

 place in the floral kingdom. In these days, as in those of an- 

 tiquity, it is par excellence^ the Queen of flowers, because it is 

 always the most beautiful, and because no other flower can fur- 

 nish half its charms. To elegance and beauty of form it unites 

 the freshness and brilliance of the most agieeable colors, and, as 

 if nature had showered upon it all her most precious gifts, it adds 

 to its other qualities a delightful perfume, which alone would 

 suffice to entitle it to a distinguished place among the beautiful 

 and pleasant things of the vegetable kingdom. 



