POETRY OP FLOWERS. 175 
These lovely, sweet-scented flowers, which have 
so much to do with blushing brides and bridal 
ceremonies, would certainly hold a foremost 
place in those fresh flowers which Mrs. Hemans 
bids us bring with which to crown the maid : 
“Bring flowers, fresh flowers, for the bride to wear! 
They were born to blush in her shining hair. 
She is leaving the home of her childhood’s mirth, 
She hath bid farewell to her father’s hearth; 
Her place is now by another’s side— 
Bring flowers for the locks of the fair young bride.” 
According to the poets and mythologists, these 
precious apples only grew in the gai’dens of the 
Ilesperides, where they were preserved from all 
intruders by a guard of never-sleeping dragons. 
It was one of the twelve labors of Hercules to 
obtain some of them. These, again, were the 
golden apples given by Venus to the venture¬ 
some Ilippomenes, by means of which he won 
Atalanta. Probably Spenser’s opinion was 
just, and this was the fruit whose bestowal upon 
Venus gave origin to the Trojan war, as it was 
also the instrument by which the crafty Acon- 
tius obtained his spouse. What numberless le¬ 
gends, poems, and fables are indeed associated 
with its bright, auriferous hue, its glossy leaves, 
and its exquisitely perfumed flowers ! What 
dreams of future happiness, what memories ot 
bygone bliss, are connected with its symbolic 
blossoms! 
