PREFACE. 
7 
flowers, afad whose mental charms cannot be 
duly typified, till we • shall have reached those 
abodes where reigns everlasting spring, and 
where decay is unknown. 
But little study will be requisite for the science 
which we teach. Nature has been before us. 
We must, however, premise two or three rules. 
When a flower is presented in its natural posi¬ 
tion, the sentiment is to be understood affirma¬ 
tively ; when reversed, negatively. For instance, 
a rose bud, with its leaves and thorns, indicates 
fear with hope; but, if reversed, it must be con¬ 
strued as saying “ you may neither fear nor hope." 
Again, divest the same rose-bud of its thorns, and 
it permits the most sanguine hope; deprive it of 
its petals, and retain the thorns, and the worst 
fears may be entertained. The expression of 
every flower may be thus varied by varying its 
state or position. The Marigold is emblematical 
of pain; place it on the head and it signifies 
trouble of mind; on the heart, the pangs of love; 
on the bosom, the disgusts of ennui. The pro¬ 
noun 1 is expressed by inclining the symbol to 
the right, and the pronoun thou by inclining it to 
the left. 
