PREFACE. 
IX 
and I think that a nation so rich in poetry as 
ours, should not be without its own Language 
of Flowers. Better believe in the messages the 
bees brought from the flowers on Mount Hy- 
mettus, when they settled upon the lips of 
Plato, and foretold that there slept the eloquence 
which would one day charm the world; or 
endeavour to trace fanciful letters in the wavy 
lines and mazy forms which they sometimes 
assume, as they streak the green hill-side, than 
find in them no meaning at all — that the 
blossoms still send tidings abroad, which when 
once whispered into the ear settle down noise¬ 
lessly into the hearts, of all who believe in 
the poetry, and beauty, and love of the flowers. 
Although my Index of the emblematic mean¬ 
ings of the flowers varies considerably from that 
which is appended to the French work before 
referred to, still I doubt not that it will be found 
11101 e accurate, and that the reasons I have given 
for adopting the emblems attached to the flowers 
are clearer and more comprehensive than anv 
that -have hitherto appeared. In every floral 
index which I have seen, the Meadow-sweet, or 
Queen of the Meadows, is made the emblem 
of Uselessness : a sweeter flower does not blow ; 
it is only equalled by the blossoms of the Haw- 
