INTRODUCTION. 
xiii 
with Bay ; and beauty with the Myrtle. Peace 
had her Olive; Bacchus his Ivy; and whole 
groves of oak-trees were thought to send out 
oracular voices in the winds. One of the most 
pleasing parts of state splendor has been asso¬ 
ciated with flowers. . . It was this that brought 
the gentle family of Roses into such unnatural 
broils in the civil wars ; and still the united 
countries of Great Britain have each a floral 
emblem: Scotland has its Thistle, Ireland its 
Shamrock, and England the Rose. France, 
under the Bourbons, had the golden Lily.” 
Notwithstanding all that has happened, all 
that has been said upon the subject, some peo¬ 
ple still refuse credence to the influence of flow¬ 
ers—even deeming frivolous or meaningless 
these florigraphical tokens which have been a 
source of joyous feelings and sublime hopes to 
thousands. 
Let us hope that such harmless if not bene¬ 
ficent doctrines are destined for universal ac¬ 
ceptance, and that those bright times, foretold 
by Shelley, are not far distant, when 
“ Not gold, not blood, the altar dowers, 
But votive blooms and symbol flowers.” 
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