2 
Introduction. 
of florigrapby. In the eyes of the sterner-minded Latins this 
innocent study found less favour; and although they adapted 
many of their Hellenic predecessors’ legends and customs, in 
connection with this science of sweet things, to their own my¬ 
thology, yet so weakened was its hold upon the minds of the 
people, that when, in the course of events, the decadence of 
the Roman empire arrived, the attractive art was allowed to 
fade into comparative oblivion. With the revival of learning 
in the middle ages, this symbolic mode of correspondence once 
more rebloomed, and, under the especial protection of chivalry, 
played a far from unimportant part in contemporary history. No 
gallant knight or gentle dame could then aspire to good breed- 
ing, unless perfectly conversant with florigraphy, as then taught; 
and the names, at least, of many of Europe’s proudest families 
owe their origin to some circumstance connected with their 
founders’ favourite blossom. In those days, minstrels and 
minnesingers sang praises of their mistresses’ chosen bloom ; 
the noblest knight and gayest squire broke many a lance, and 
emptied many a flagon, in honour of a sprig of broom, or a 
bunch of violets, that some fair dame had perchance adopted as 
her device. Even kings, not contented with their regal crowns, 
did not deem it derogatory to their dignity to enter the lists, 
in order to do battle for the floral wreaths that beauty proffered 
as a guerdon for the victor. 
Thus every age and every clime promulgated its own pecu¬ 
liar system of floral signs; and although now-a-days, as regards 
the larger portion of Europe, the language is in many respects 
a dead one, yet still, amongst several Oriental races, this em¬ 
blematic style of communication flourishes with much of its 
pristine importance. 
“In Eastern lands they talk in flowers, 
And they tell in a garland their loves and cares; 
Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers 
On its leaves a mystical language wears.” 
It has been said that the language of flowers is as old as the 
days of Adam, and that the antiquity of floral emblems dates 
from the first throbbing of love in the human breast; and, 
indeed, to gain a glimpse of florigraphic symbolism, as it ap¬ 
peared in its earliest and freshest vigour, we should have to 
journey backwards far into the shadowy obscurity which en- 
