24 INTRODUCTION. 
confined, a rose bathed in her tears. What a charming ex¬ 
pression of sorrow and of love ! The Chinese have an alpha¬ 
bet composed entirely of plants and roots; and we may yet 
read upon the rocks of Egypt the ancient conquests over that 
people, recorded by foreign plants. This language is as old as 
the world, but its characters are renewed in each succeeding 
spring. 
Should a beautiful odalisk wish to avenge herself on a tyrant 
who has treated her with cruelty, she may, with a single flow¬ 
eret of the lily of the valley, thrown as by chance, inform a 
young icoglan, that the favourite sultana, weary of her tyran¬ 
nous lord, wishes to inspire a sentiment of lively and pure 
affection. If he should return a rose, it would be as though 
he had said that reason was opposed to her projects; but a 
tulip, with a black heart, and flame-coloured petals, would 
assure her that her wishes were understood and partaken of. 
This is an ingenious mode of correspondence, which can never 
betray nor divulge a secret. 
This eloquent language gives a charm to the sweet inter¬ 
course of friendship, and to filial and maternal love; it adds to 
the delight of youthful affections, and affords an excellent 
mode of recognition. The unfortunate may even find a faith¬ 
ful messenger in a flower. Roucher, when in solitary confine¬ 
ment, consoled himself in studying the flowers which his 
daughter collected for him; and, a few days before his death, 
he sent her two dead lilies, to express, at the same time, the 
purity of his soul and the fate which awaited him. 
The poet Saadi, author of “ Gulistan, or the Rose-Garden,” 
engaged to break his chains by presenting a rose to the man 
who owned him as his slave. He said, “ Do good unto thy 
servant while thou hast it in thy power, for the season of power 
is often as brief as the existence of this beautiful flower.” 
The sentiments and emblems found in this volume are chiefly 
