r 
FLORAL CEREMONIES. 129 
much has been said and written, that we might 
fill a volume with mere quotations; by the 
ancients beauty and divinity were alike crowned 
with them—the objects of their earthly love, 
and of their unearthly adoration; they have 
equally graced the altar and the domestic 
hearth; the temple, the palace, and the cottage; 
and even down to the present day, wherever 
shrines and images are set up as visible mani¬ 
festations of things holy and invisible, there do 
wreaths and garlands of flowers continue to be 
offered and suspended ; and among those who, 
like ourselves, reject as sinful, or, at least quite 
unnecessary, all created forms and vain repre¬ 
sentations of the Deity, they are considered as 
the fittest ornaments for female loveliness and 
childish innocence ; and the most beautiful 
objects wherewith we can regale the senses in 
seasons of festivity and rejoicing. 
As we look upon these pictures we are 
transported in fancy to Arcadian fields and 
groves ; the green valley and the sparkling 
rivulet are before us; the sound of the shep¬ 
herd’s pipe, the soft bleating of the sheep, and 
