enjoyed by Proserpine and her nymphs; a pleasure, too, for which they expressly came forth, and by the 
too great pursuit of which, the latter were separated from their mistress. 
In our own time, we may instance the late Mr. Shelley. Of a strong and powerful intellect, his 
manners were gentle as a summer’s evening: his tastes were pure and simple: it was his delight to ramble 
out into the fields and woods, where he would take his book, or sometimes his pen, and having employed 
some hours in study, and in speculations on his favourite theme — the advancement of human happiness, 
would return home with his hat wreathed with briony, or wild convolvulus: his hand filled with bunches of 
wild-flowers plucked from the hedges as he passed, and his eyes, indeed every feature, beaming with the 
benevolence of his heart. He loved to stroll in his garden, chatting with a friend, or accompanied by his 
Homer or his Bible (of both which he was a frequent reader:) but one of his chief enjoyments was in sailing^ 
rowing, or floating in his little boat, upon the river : often he would lie down flat in the boat and read, with 
his face upwards to the sunshine. In this taste for the water he was too venturesome, or perhaps incon- 
siderate; for it was rather a thoughtlessness of danger, than a braving of it. In the end, as is well known 
it was fatal to him: never will his friends cease to feel, or to mourn his loss; though their mourning will be 
softened by the contemplation of his amiable nature, and by the memory of that gentle and spiritual coun- 
tenance, “which seemed not like an inhabitant of the earth ” while it was on it. 
Among the lovers of flowers, it is a pleasure to be able to name the gallant and accomplished 
prince, Alexander Mavrocordato, one of the chief leaders of the Greeks in their glorious struggle 
for freedom. A botanical work, not long since published in Italy, is dedicated to him on account 
of his known fondness for the subject. To the same prince remarkable for exhibiting not only the gentle 
taste for flowers, but most of the characteristics, physical, intellectual, and moral, of his Hellenic ancestors, 
Mr. Shelley appropriately dedicated his “ Hellas” — Among the Ancient Greeks this taste was very general, 
as may be gathered from many writers. In the following passage from the Travels of Anacharsis, a work in 
which several of these authorities are assembled: the author describes a visit to a friend who had retired to 
his country-house: — 
“Having crossed a court-yard peopled with fowls, ducks, and other domestic birds, we visited the 
stable, the sheep-fold, and the flower-garden; where we saw in succession narcissuses, hyacinths, anemonies, 
irises, violets of different colours, roses of various kinds, and all sorts of odoriferous plants. You will not 
be surprised, said he, at the care I take in cultivating them; for you know that we adorn with them the 
temples, altars, and statues of our gods : that we crown our heads with them in our festivals, and holy cere- 
monies; that we scatter them upon our tables, and our beds; that we even consider the kinds of flowers 
most agreeable to our divinities. Besides, an agriculturist should not neglect small profits; whenever I 
send to the market of Athens, wood, provision, or fruit, I add some baskets of flowers, and they are seized 
instantly.” 
In another part of the same work, the author describes a marriage ceremony in the Island of Delos, in 
which flowers, shrubs, and trees make a conspicuous figure. He tell us that the inhabitants of the island 
assembled at day-break, crowned with flowers; that flowers were strewed in the path of the bride and bride- 
groom: the house was garlanded with them; singers and dancers appeared, crowned with oak, myrtle, and 
hawthorns; the bride and bridegroom were crowned with poppies; and upon their approach to the temple 
a priest received them at the entrance, presenting to each a branch of ivy, — a symbol of the tie which was 
to unite them for ever. 
The modern Greek word for “to be married,” is literally “ to be crowned,” and the placing a chaplet 
of flowers on the bride’s head is still the principal rite of the marriage ceremony in the Greek Church, 
not only in the Levant, but in Russia and elsewhere. 
It was not in their sports only that the Greeks were so lavish of their flowers: they crowned the dead 
with them ; and the mourners wore them in funeral ceremonies. Flowers seem to have been to this tasteful 
people a sort of poetic language, whereby they expressed the intensity of feelings to which they found 
common language inadequate. Thus we find that their grief, and their joy, their religion, and their sports, 
their gratitude, admiration, and love, were alike expressed by flowers. 
