10 
TIIE LANGUAGE ANXi 
ot* some quality, did so either from ; ts con¬ 
nexion with some mythological, warlike, or 
historical event, or from the circumstance 
of the predominating quality of the plant 
being similar to that which it was intended 
to represent. In the research we were com¬ 
pelled to make, in preparing for publication 
“ The Sentiment of Flowers,”* we found 
that time, instead of rendering their senti¬ 
ments less appropriate, had confirmed their 
fitness, and continually added new charms 
to the language. 
Little study is necessary to become a pro¬ 
ficient in the science here taught; nature 
has been before us. It will be sufficient to 
give two or three rules, which the reader 
will do well to learn, and then by reference 
to the Vocabulary he will be enabled to con¬ 
verse in the language of flowers. By the 
first rule, a flower, presented inclining to the 
right, expresses a thought; reversed, it is 
understood to convey the contrary of that 
* In most cases, this book gives the reason why a 
flower is made emblematical of the quality it repre¬ 
sents 
