PREPACE. 
All tlie hooks which have hitherto treated 
on the Language of the Flowers are, with the 
exception of a few slight alterations and addi¬ 
tions, mere translations from the French work of 
Airne Martin ; nor am I aware of any production 
in the English language on this subject which 
professes to be original, saving the present. If 
flowers, the most beautiful objects in nature, are 
to be converted into the messengers of friendship 
and love, and are capable of conveying beautiful 
and poetical meanings, it is surely worth while 
to trace a resemblance between the flower and 
the emblem it represents, which shall, at least, 
have some show of reason in it. This task I 
have attempted, taking for my guides no less 
authorities than Chaucer, Spenser, Shakspere, 
and Milton ; whatever meanings they have attri 
buted to the flowers I have retained, and also 
endeavoured, like them, to find, in either the name 
or the nature of the flower, some resemblance to 
the thought it is intended to express, and so, by 
adding here and there a blossom to the beautiful 
