ENGLISH PREFACE. ix 
should not be without its own Language of Flowers. Bet¬ 
ter believe in the messages the bees brought from the flow¬ 
ers on Mount Hymettus, when they settled upon the lips of 
Plato, and foretold that their slept the eloquence which 
would one day charm the world ; or endeavor to trace fan¬ 
ciful letters in the wavy lines and mazy forms which they 
sometimes assume, as they streak the green hill-side, than 
find in them no meaning at all—that the blossoms still send 
tidings abroad, which when once whispered into the ears, 
settle down noiselessly into the hearts of all who believe in 
the poetry, and beauty, and love of the flowers. 
Although my Index of the emblematic meanings of the 
flowers varies considerably from that which is appended to 
the French work before referred to, still I doubt not that it 
will be found more accurate, and that the reasons I have 
given for adopting the emblems attached to the flowers are 
clearer and more comprehensive than any that have hither¬ 
to appeared. In every floral index which I have seen, the 
Meadow-sweet, or Queen of the Meadows, is made the em¬ 
blem of Uselessness : a sweeter flower does not blow—it is 
only equalled by the blossoms of the Hawthorn in perfume, 
and I think I have with good reason changed its significa¬ 
tion to Neglected Beauty. Again, the Anemone, or Wind¬ 
flower of the Greeks, has been selected as the emblem of 
Forsaken Love: I have, in honor of Milton, chosen the 
