21 TITR LANGUAGE OP FLOWERS. 
'‘Tea — Toil are both sun and moon to me, 
Tour’s is the light by which I see.” 
And oftentimes two flowers combined may 
form a stanzas, as : — 
The opening ruse-bud shows how pure 
My love for thee, thou charming maid ; 
The pint, alas ! thy proud disdain, 
With which my ardent passion’s paid.” 
By the above- examples, it will be seen that 
there is nothing on earth, in air or water, to 
which a meaning may not be attached, but 
these meanings are very arbitrary, depending 
more upon the sound of words, which will 
rhyme with the object named, than on any 
real or fancied similarity of significance in 
their nature or properties. But what a heresy 
is it to call this system of arbitrary meanings 
the *‘ Language of Flowers what a departure 
from that only true faith, the principal tenet 
of which is a firm and fervent belief in the 
significance of nature ! If God speaks in the 
elements— and who shall doubt? — if the winds, 
and the waves, and the loud rattling thun- 
