INTRODUCTION. 
11 
The daisy (or day’s-eye) imports the pure virgi¬ 
nity, or spring of life, as being itself the virgin 
bloom of the year. 
The intermixture of nettles requires no comment. 
Admitting the correctness of this interpretation, 
the whole is an exquisite specimen of emblematic 
or picture-writing. They are all wild flowers, de¬ 
noting the betvildered state of the beautiful Ophe¬ 
lia’s own faculties; and the order runs thus, with 
the meaning of each term beneath : 
Crow-flowers. Nettles. Daisies. Long-purples. 
Stuns to Her virgin Under the cold 
FayreMayde the quick bloom hand of death. 
“ A fair maid stung to the quick ; her virgin bloom under 
the cold hand of death.” 
It would be difficult to find a more emblematic 
wreath for this interesting victim of disappointed 
love and filial sorrow. 
Flowers, the emblems and favourites of the fair, 
are not every where prized merely for their bqauty 
and their perfume: in those regions where jealousy 
and custom condemn women to close imprisonment, 
and where love can employ only the language of 
looks and signs, invention has created symbolic 
