28 lANOTTAGB OF FLOWERS. 
nature or properties. But what a heresy is it 
to call this system of arbitrary meanings the 
‘^Language of Flowers;” what a departure 
from that only true faith, the principal tenet of 
which is a firm and fervent belief in the signifi¬ 
cance of nature ! If God speaks in the elements 
—and who shall doubt ?—if the winds, and the 
waves, and the loud rattling thunders, testify of 
his power and majesty, do not the forest trees 
also, and. the grasses of the fields, and the 
beautiful blossoms which adorn like living 
gems, the bosom of the earth,—have not these 
voices —voices of instruction, and reproof, and 
sympathy, and love, and aU that is most gentle 
and benign 1 Assuredly they have ! Let us 
then look upon them not as the mere play¬ 
things of an idle hour,—as gauds and decora¬ 
tions for the frivolous and vain, but as something 
too sacred to be made the symbols of false 
sentiments, and feigned, or evil passions. 
Truly the real^^ Language of Flowers” is no 
system of unmeaning similitudes ; there is a 
deeper significance attached to every plant and 
flower, indeed to every object in nature, than 
