Typical Bouquets. 
337 
nosegay formed of myrtle entwined with the cypress and 
poppy. The two latter symbols would find a ready interpre¬ 
tation in any country; but to us the gay tulip might seem ill 
adapted to convey sentiment, and would rather remind us of 
that display which courts admiration. The bergamotte and 
jasmine, both of which in Eastern countries possess the most 
powerful fragrance, are beautifully emblematic of the sweets of 
friendship. 
Reverting next to India, which, as a florigraphical authority 
states, “ may be regarded as the cradle of poetry,” we are in¬ 
formed that it is customary there to express by'the combina¬ 
tion of flowers those sentiments of the heart which are regarded 
as too refined and sacred to be communicated through the 
common medium of words. The young females of Amboyna 
are singularly ingenious in the art of conversing in the language 
of flowers and fruits. Yet this language, like that employed 
in Turkey and in other parts of the East, bears little resem¬ 
blance to that with which we have been hitherto acquainted in 
Europe ; although, according to the received notion, we were 
indebted for our first knowledge of this language to the Cru¬ 
saders and to pilgrims who visited the Holy Land. 
Lady Montague tells us that in Turkey you may, through 
the assistance of these emblems, either quarrel, reproach, or 
send letters of passion, friendship, or civility, or even news 
without ever inking your fingers ; for there is no weed, no fruit’ 
no herb, nor flower, that has not a verse belonging to it. So! 
too, no Turkish lady would send a congratulatory message, or 
a ceremonious invitation, without sending with it some em¬ 
blematical flowers, carefully wrapped in an embroidered hand¬ 
kerchief, made fragrant by the odours of other flowers, which 
conveyed also an emblematical meaning. But these are’merely 
fragments of the customs of the Eastern nations, where all was 
symbol, emblem, and allegory, and where imagination usurped 
the power and controlled even the affairs of state. 
In his “ Letters on Greece,” Castellan remarks that, when 
he was passing through a valley on the Bosphorus, his atten¬ 
tion was engaged by an incident thoroughly characteristic of 
Oriental life. Beneath the grated window of a small country 
villa stood a young Turk, serenading the object of his affection 
with some such lay as this : 
