INTRODUCTION. 
11 
ginity, or spring of life, as being itself the virgin 
bloom of the year. 
The intermixture of nettles requires no com¬ 
ment. 
Admitting the correctness of this interpreta¬ 
tion, the whole is an exquisite specimen of em¬ 
blematic or picture-writing. They are all wild 
flowers, denoting the bewildered state of the 
beautiful Ophelia’s own faculties; and the order 
runs thus, with the meaning of each term be¬ 
neath : 
Crow-flowers. Nettles. 
Fayre Mayde 
Stung to 
the quick 
Daisies. 
Her virgin 
bloom 
Long-purples. 
Under the cold 
hand of death 
“A fair maid stung to the quick; her virgin bloom 
under the cold hand of death.” 
It would be difficult to find a more emblematic 
wreath for this interesting victim of disappointed 
love and filial sorrow. 
Flowers, the emblems and favourites of the 
fair, are not every where prized merely for their 
beauty and their perfume; in those regions 
where jealousy and custom condemn women to 
close imprisonment, and where love can employ 
only the language of looks and signs, invention 
