90 
LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
leaves, deeply dentated, and of a delicate green; 
•whereas those of the Periw^inkle are always green, 
firm, and shining; its flower is blue, while that of 
the Anemone is of a pure white, tinged with rose 
colour at the edge; and, enduring but a day, it 
recalls to us the happy and fleeting hours of child¬ 
hood. 
In France, the Periwinkle has been adopted as 
the emblem of the pleasures of memory and sincere 
friendship, probably in allusion to Rousseau’s recol¬ 
lection of his friend, Madame de Warens, occasioned, 
after a lapse of thirty years, by the sight of this 
flower, which they had admired together. 
This plant is deeply rooted in the soil vvhich it 
adorns. It interweaves the earth on all sides with 
its flexible shoots, and covers it with flowers, which 
seem to reflect and imitate the azure of the sky : 
thus our first affections, so warm, pure, and artless, 
appear to have a celestial origin. They mark our 
days with a moment’s happiness, and to them we 
owe our sweetest recollections. 
