THE 
LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
INTRODUCTION. 
HE most charming of all gifts is one of flowers. 
A Queen may (and we rejoice to say our own 
beloved Sovereign often does) give them to her 
subjects; and the poorest subject may offer them to 
a monarch. 
They are the representatives of all times and of all 
nations; the pledges of all feelings. The infant plays 
with them, and gains his first idea of beauty from their 
blossoms; the lover gives them to his beloved; the 
bride wears them. We offer them to our beloved dead; 
dynasties are represented by a flower; nations adopt 
them as their emblems. A leaf is the crown of valour. 
Wars have been fought, alas ! in merry England, under a 
floral emblem; universal is their hold on human sym¬ 
pathies ; universal their language. 
The Language and Poetry of Flowers must always be 
an appropriate gift to the young and sensitive; indeed 
all ages rejoice in their sweetness and beauty, and all 
poets have sung their praises. B 
