INTRODUCTION. 23 
shows to us the queen of spring with her spherical form, her 
delicate colours, the beautiful green of her foliage, the thorns 
which protect her, the dew-drops which bathe her, and the 
butterfly which skims lightly over her beautiful form. “ The 
beauty and grace that may be displayed in grouping flowers, 
united with the gayety of their colours, and the harmony 
of their tints, are objects well worthy the attention of those 
who were born to render life delightful.” Nothing is for¬ 
gotten in depicting them; and when we look upon the faithful 
representative, even in the depths of winter, we may fancy 
that we inhale the perfumes of spring. This study, in impart¬ 
ing a taste for all that is beautiful in nature, fills the soul with 
ravishing emotions, and opens before us the enchanted ave¬ 
nues of a world full of wonders.” “Flowers,” says Pliny, 
“are the joy of the shrubs which bear them.” This eminent 
observer of nature might also have added, “ and of those who 
love them and cultivate them.” 
The interpreters of our sweetest sentiments, flowers lend 
their charms even to love—to that pure and chaste affection, 
which, as Plato observes, is an inspiration from the gods. The 
expression of this divine passion ought to be divine also, and 
it was to illustrate this that flowers were ingeniously made 
emblematical of our most delicate sentiments; they do, in fact, 
utter in “silent eloquence” a language better than writing; 
they are the delicate symbols of the illusions of a tender heart 
and of a lively and brilliant imagination. In the glorious days 
of chivalry, the respectful lover oft made use of the sweet lan¬ 
guage of flowers. Gothic books are full of emblems composed 
of flowers; and we find, in the romance of Perceforet , that a 
garland of roses is the lover’s treasure. We read also in that 
of Amadis, that Oriana, a prisoner who had neither the oppor¬ 
tunity of speaking nor writing to her lover, apprised him of her 
misfortune by throwing, from the high tower in which she was 
