PRKFAGE. 



AxoTiiEu bouquet 1 Yos, there are four seasons at least 

 in the ^^ear, and from the proper flowery point of view as 

 many seasons as days, nay, as hours : tor Nature rests 

 not, and every moment witnesses a hew creation of life 

 and beaut}'. We must have another bouquet, and agani 

 perhaps anotlier And if we stay our course in the i^'ifth 

 Series it Avill be because our hands are weary, not 

 because the p-arden is exhausted ; for we have but made 

 X beginninE,'' even now in collectmg the emblems of 

 blessedness \vit.h wdiich we are engirt.' The commonness 

 of the subjects figured and discoursed upon in these 

 pages will commend them more forcibly to discreet souls 

 than would any possible rarity and remoteness. The 

 blue sky and the green earth cannot be monopolised ; 

 they mix with our breath and blood and every-day 

 thoughts, and the poorest take their share from the 

 same exhaustless fountains as the wealthy. We will 

 not, indeed, speak disdainfully of the curiosities (^ueen 

 Flora keeps in her cabinet ; but we claim for our 

 " familiar " flowers that their true value is to be found 

 in their plentifulness, accessibility, and close association 

 with our customs, pastimes, and the whole of our daily 

 life, in all which the rarities from far-otf lands have no 

 part, and, therefore, touch no homely feeling or tender 

 sentiment. 



" S\\eet is ;ill Oic land aliOut and all the flo^vers that hL3w." 



And the stor}' of their sweetness is chiefly Avhat concerns 

 us here. 



