JNTROPI/CTION. 
symbolize, yet in this is only presented the floral tongue, 
passing through the same progressive stages that have 
characterized the annals of every spoken language. In 
a rude and primitive state, the words are few and simple 
that suffice to clothe in language the thoughts and de¬ 
sires of an untutored race of men ; but with every in¬ 
creasing want, and every new desire, names and forms 
of thought must be created, until the brief vocabulary 
of the savage tribe swells into the complex dictionary 
of an intelligent and civilized people. And so has it 
been with this universal language. “ He cometh forth 
as a flower and is cut down,” is the expressive and 
universally intelligent language of Scripture; and no 
less does it early prefigure hope than frailty. We strew 
them over the shroud of departed love, and plant them 
to bloom brightly above the grave, that they may speak 
in Spring of a brighter season of hope, and in Sum* 
mer of that heavenly clime that knows only of an 
eternal summer and a cloudless sky, and in all sea¬ 
sons, of love, and purity, and peace. To these the 
simple expressions of natural feeling, have been added 
from time to time, from the pages of classic poetry, and 
the more complex fancies of later writers, a series of 
ideas attached to every flower, by means of which the 
nosegay iftay be made to take the place of more formal 
epistles, and spread forth its lovely blossoms, and 
breathe out its fragrant odour, to whisper the sweet 
tale of the lover, and plead his cause to his mistress’s 
ear ; while, should clouds mar the sunshine of his 
young passion, and demand other tokens than the 
gentle ones of love to express his feelings, he may still 
have recourse to the same sweet petals, and renew 
again, in different guise, the ancient strife of the “ wars 
of the roses. * 
