THE TULIP. 63 



The descendants of Prince Shem, conveyed them to the Indus, — 

 of Duke Ham, to the Nilotic Valley, — and of Earl Japhet, to the 

 Peloponnesees. There they respectively flourished, and in due 

 time, the gentle and ever varying breezes of adventure wafted a 

 fruitful seed to every Island and Continent of the " habitable globe." 

 But only within the great girdles of the temperate zones do they 

 flourish in all their vigor and beauty, for the tropical and frozen 

 regions are incongenial to their growth. 



Among the Orientals, where flowers constitute a language for the 

 communication of hearts, the Tulip is employed as the emblem by 

 which a lover makes a declaration of love. In our written lan- 

 guage, the same word in diff'erent relations, expresses diff'erent 

 ideas. So with Tulips. The rich, variegated flower, glowing with 

 carnation, and humed with dew, is received as a declaration of 

 love, — 



" Forever thine, whate'er this world betide, 



In youth, and age, thine own, forever thine." 



A. A. Watts. 



while the Yellow Tulip is an emblem of hopeless love — of love 

 unrequited — of love, conscious of no sympathizing response, and 

 whose plaint is — 



He comes not — sends not — faithless one ! 

 It is no dream — and I am desolate." 



Byron. 



Nor are the Orientals the only people who employ Twolips to 

 make a declaration of love, or to express the complainings of unre- 

 quited passion. They can only claim pre-eminence because of 

 priority of use ; for Twolips constitute a universal instrument in 

 affairs of love. True, with us, the Rose and the Lily have wonder- 

 ous influence in the vocabulary of passion, when beauty assumes to 

 be interpreter and umpire, yet these fail to convey the heart's 

 whole meaning, and Twolips are summoned to join the embassy 

 and give emphasis to the message. 



