10 
INTRODUCTION. 
Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side 
Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub. 
Fenc’d up the verdant wall; each beauteous flower. 
Iris all hues, roses and jessamine. 
Rear’d high their flourished heads between, and 
wrought 
Mosaick; underfoot the violet. 
Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay, 
Broider’d the ground, more colour’d than with stone 
Of costliest emblem.” 
The ancient and silent language of flowers 
lends its aid to gratitude, friendship, filial 
love, and maternal fondness. Even affliction 
may be soothed by the emblematical commu¬ 
nication of sentiment. Roucher, when im¬ 
prisoned by the tyrants of the revolutionary 
tribunal of France, amused himself by the 
study of floral language, his daughter being 
allowed to send him flowers to the prison. 
Thence a few days before he met his fate on 
the scaffold, he sent back to this favourite 
child, two dried lilies, to express both the 
purity of his heart, and the fate which 
awaited him. 
