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FUNEKAL FLOWERS. 
flowers. So, in the South'of England, a chaplet 
of white roses is borne before the corpse of a 
maiden by a young girl, nearest in age and re¬ 
semblance to the deceased, and afterwards hung 
up over her accustomed seat at church. They 
are emblematical, says Washington Irving, of 
purity and the crown of ^lory, which she has 
received in heaven :— 
\ 
“A garland shall be formed 
By art and nature’s skill, 
Of sundry colored flowers 
In token of good-will,—• 
The blessed crown of glory, 
And the hopes which us do fill.” 
Many and very beautiful are the allusions 
made to this custom by our old poets and drama¬ 
tists ; we shall only have space to quote a few 
of them from the prince of song and master of 
the passions:— 
Queen. —“ Sweets to the sweet Farewell! 
{Scattering flowers.) 
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife; 
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck’d, sweet maid. 
And not t’ have strew’d thy grave.— Hamlet, Act V. 
