P EE F A C E. 
My own love for Flowers, and the intense pleasure 
they afford me, are my best as well as my true reasons 
for writing and publishing this volume; for I believed 
(and surely the feeling was pardonable, even if somewhat 
self-laudatory) that a record of the thoughts, fancies, 
and associations which combine to render Flowers and 
Flower Seasons so precious to me might, if communi¬ 
cated, enhance the pleasure which others derive from 
the same sweet sources. 
I aim not at conveying scientific information; firstly, 
because the design of my work is purely poetical; 
and secondly, because my own knowledge of botany is 
too limited to allow of my offering any instruction to 
others. 
I love Flowers as forming one of the sweetest lines 
in the God-written Poetry of Nature: as one of the 
universal blessings accessible to all nations, climes and 
classes; blessings in their own loveliness alone, and in 
the pleasure ever derivable from the contemplation of 
