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FUNERAL FLOWERS. 
flowers. So, in the South of England, a chaplet 
of white roses is borne before the corpse of a 
maiden by a young girl, nearest in age and re¬ 
semblance to the deceased, and afterwards hung 
up over her accustomed seat at church. They 
are emblematical, says Washington Irving, of 
purity and the crown of glory, which she has 
received in heaven :— 
“A garland shall he formed 
By art and nature’s skill, 
Of sundry colored flowers 
In token df good-will,— 
The blessed crown of glory, 
And the hopes which us do fill.” 
Many and very beautiful are the allusions 
made to this custom by our old poets and drama¬ 
tists ; we shall only have space to quote a few 
of them from the prince of song and master of 
the passions:— 
Queen. —“ Sweets to the sweet Farewell! 
{Scattering flowers.) 
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife; 
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck’d, sweet maid, 
And not t’ have strew’d thy grave.— Hamlet, Act V. 
