14 THE LOVER'S OFFERING, 
Yes! Prideaux was right when he said, 
“ The heart of him who loves not flowers,” 
must be “of uncongenial soil, he has no 
communion with nature; he is an alien in 
this beautiful world of ours. His life is a 
fiction; and how gorgeous, how splendid 
soever, still it is but a fiction, it is not truth, 
it is not reality.”—There can be no taste for 
the beautiful in him who loves not flowers. 
Flowers have been the great source of 
the sweetest poetry. Had it not been for 
these beautiful and fragrant productions 
of nature, books of poetry would have been 
sadly deficient; for it is by them that poetic 
inspiration has, to a great extent, been 
produced. That inspiration the poet has 
caught when he has gazed upon the rose, 
the lily, the violet, and other lovely flowers, 
observing their beautiful formation, their 
rich and varied tints; and realizing their 
exuberant fragrance, poetical effusions 
have readily emanated from the poet’s 
mind. Poets have justly acknowledged 
their obligations to flowers for their pleas¬ 
ing and enchanting stanzas, which all 
lovers of poetry have greatly appreciated. 
