166 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



approbation, and the academicians testified by 

 their unanimous applause, their consent to 

 the reception of the illustrious Zeb as a 

 member of their society. 



Oriana, when confined a prisoner in a lofty 

 tower, threw a wet rose to her lover to 

 express her grief and love ; and in the floral 

 language of the East, the presenting a rose- 

 bud with thorns and leaves, is understood to 

 express both fear and hope ; and when return- 

 ed, reversed, it signifies that you must neither 

 entertain fear or hope. If the thorns be 

 taken off before it is returned, then it ex- 

 presses that you have every thing to hope; 

 but if the leaves be stripped off, it gives the 

 receiver to understand that he has every thing 

 to fear. The pronoun / is understood by 

 inclining the flower to the right, and the pro- 

 noun thou by inclining it to the left. 



The poet Bonnefons sent to the object of 

 his love a nosegay consisting of a white and 

 a red rose, the one to indicate the paleness of 

 his complexion, caused by anxiety, and the 

 other by its carnation tint, was to express the 

 flames of his heart. The bouquet was accom- 

 panied by this verse : 



" Pour toi, Daphne, ces fleurs viennent d'eclore, 

 Vois, Tune est blanche, et Pautre se colore 

 D'un vif eclat: l'une peint ma pajeur, 

 L'autre mes reux: toutes deux mon malheur." 



