42 LANGUAGE AND 
florigraphists chose the Convolvulus foi its re¬ 
presentative in their science of sweet things. 
The Major Convolvulus, symbolic of extin¬ 
guished hopes , is a native of America; and the 
Minor Convolvulus, typifying repose , of Southern 
Europe: the flowers of this latter variety are 
sometimes pure white, but more frequently are 
variegated with blue and yellow, or blue and 
white : one very beautiful kind is a bright blue, 
fading, by delicate gradations, to a pure white 
in the centre, and resembles that blue atmo¬ 
sphere, relieved by fleecy clouds, when, as Keats 
says, 
“ On high, 
Through clouds of fleecy white laughs the cerulean 
sky.” 
Nor is the form of this flower less lovely than 
its color, either when spread out in full beauty 
to catch the kisses of its bosom lord, the sun, or 
when, at the stealthy approach of that star-covered 
dame of which it is the peerless symbol, it 
droops its graceful neck and shuts its bright 
blue eye. 
In the suburbs of the Eternal City—the seven- 
hilled Rome—different species of the convolvu¬ 
lus fling their many-hued wreaths round the 
hedges, in some parts decorating both sides of 
the road for several miles with a gallant array 
of bright leaves and brighter flowers, and the 
