INTRODUCTION. 
21 
an opportunity of making a verbal declaration to his 
mistress. Recourse was therefore had to an expres¬ 
sive kind of pantomimic language, which was learned 
by children of both sexes at a very early age. By 
this method lovers were enabled to hold communi¬ 
cation with each other for years without ever inter¬ 
changing a syllable. In the reign of Charles II., 
however, the Spanish ladies were allowed a greater 
degree of freedom; and the Guapos, or gallants of 
Madrid, who adopted the fashion of wearing flowers 
in their hats, used to assemble in the evening on 
the Prado, and to present nosegays to the ladies in 
their carriages. 
The practice of conversing by gestures and signs 
was introduced by the Spaniards into Brussels, 
where the Duke of Orleans and the French noble¬ 
men of his suite availed themselves of this silent 
language to pay court to the ladies at their win¬ 
dows. 
The Italian and Sicilian females, who were not 
less closely guarded than the Spanish women, also 
practised a pantomimic language, and adopted the 
use of flowers in love affairs. In Genoa, it was no 
unusual thing for a lady to throw a nosegay openly 
