148 Garlands of Flowers. 



destruction, could I live without you ;" on which she ordered a 

 prisoner to be brought before them who, on drinking the scented 

 wine, instantly expired in their presence. The fondness which 

 the ancients evinced for flowers was carried to such an excess as 

 to become almost a vice. When Antony supped with the far- 

 famed queen of Egypt, the floors of the apartments were gene- 

 rally covered with fragrant flowers ; and when Nero sat at ban- 

 quet in his golden house, a shower of flowers and odorous es- 

 sences fell upon him ; but Heliogabalus turned these vegetable 

 beauties into curses, for it was one of the pleasures of this mon- 

 ster to smother his courtiers with flowers. The Italians who 

 still retain some of the Roman customs, have artificers called 

 festaroli, whose office it is to make garlands or festoons of flowers 

 and other decorations for feasts. The Catholic Church still con- 

 tinues the use of flowers in its religious ceremonies ; as do the 

 Chinese, who consider them grateful to the gods ; they hold some 

 particular kinds in great veneration, especially the Eukeanthies, 

 of which, at the commencement of every new year, when the 

 plant is generally in blossom, large branches are placed in all the 

 temples as an acceptable offering. The Mexicans, from time im- 

 memorial, have studied the cultivation of flowers and odoriferous 

 plants, which they employed in the worship of the gods. Allu- 

 sion in the history of flowers is often made to the celebrated Gar- 

 land of Julia ; and it may not be improper to notice that it was 

 a piece of ingenious gallantry of the Duke de Montausier towards 

 the beautiful Julie de Rambouillet. After he had gained the pro- 

 mise of his mistress' hand, he was, according to an ancient custom 

 which in France is still observed, to send every morning to his 

 future bride, till the wedding-day, a nosegay of the finest flowers 

 of the season. But he did not stop here ; he had painted on vel- 

 lum, by the best artists, in a folio volume magnificently bound, 

 the finest cultivated flowers ; and all the most distinguished poets 

 of the day divided amongst themselves the task of making verses 

 upon the flowers. The great Corneille wrote for the Orange 

 flower and the Everlasting. Julie, on the day of her marriage, 

 found this precious book on her toilet table. The misfortunes of 

 the French Revolution transported this interesting monument of 

 the gallantry of the seventeenth century to Hamburgh, where it 

 was put up for sale in the year 1795 ; but the purchaser of thiB 

 combination of poetry and painting is unknown. 



