PREFACE. 
In forming this collection of Floral Emblems, 
the first care was to avoid perplexity, by 
creating new symbols, with such flowers as 
have been previously used in the hierogly¬ 
phics of the- ancients or described in the 
verses of the poets. 
Therefore, when the compiler found the 
same plant made to represent more than one 
design, he selected the emblem of the greatest 
antiquity, or the one most established by 
custom, and in some instances he has noticed 
their various interpretations. 
