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LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
to enable us to create from them a language for 
the expression of those sentiments to which 
the tongue cannot always venture to give utter¬ 
ance. Every flower seems naturally to present 
some particular emblematic meaning; and, in 
the combination of a garland or nosegay, it is 
no difficult matter to compose a riddle, the solu¬ 
tion of which may afford an agreeable exercise 
to the fancy. 
If, for example, a lady should receive from 
her lover a bouquet consisting of roses, lilies, 
laurel, and forget-me-not; the meaning of the 
present might be thus interpreted: the flower 
of innocence, when kissed by the rose, blushes 
as thou wouldst blush at the approach of love; 
the proud laurel denotes thy beauty’s triumph; 
and the tender forget-me-not is the emblem of 
eternal constancy. 
This idea of rendering flowers the vehicle of 
a lover’s sentiments has been thus happily 
seized by one of our early English poets : 4 
Aske me why I send you here 
This firstling of the infant yeare; 
Aske me why I send to you 
This Primrose all bepearl’d with dew; 
