Ube OLanQuaGe ot flowers* 
INTRODUCTION. 
The flower world is linked with all the 
finer sympathies of our nature. The sweet 
blossoms that cover the green wood are the 
delight of our childhood ; a bouquet is the 
best ornament of girlish beauty, the meetest 
offering from young and timid love. Flowers 
deck the chamber of old age, and are the 
last sad gift of sorrow to the dead. 
Who does not know that exquisite appeal 
of Milton for their homage to his lost 
Lycidas ? We can never repeat it too 
often:— 
“ Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use 
Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing 
brooks, 
On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks 
