nt 
PREFACE, Vii 
to represent hope, love, grief, joy, care, fear, hatred, 
and every other sentiment ; and that the acceptance or 
refusal of a proffered flower had great effect on the one 
presenting it, as we find in a passage in the Bride of 
_ Abydos, where Selim allows the rose offered by Zuleika 
to remain untouched, which leads her to exclain— 
“What ! not receive my favorite flower ? 
Nay, then I am indeed unblest.” 
In the West, too, we read of the homage paid and senti- 
ment attached to trees and flowers; and among the 
numerous instances we find the reward of the victor was 
the laurel, and the chaplet of the poet the bay; palms 
were the emblem of triumph—cypress of mourning— 
and the holly of festivals. We are told of the respect 
paid to the oak by our Roman and British ancestors, 
and the solemnity with which the Druids regarded the 
mistletoe and the crab apple ; and the superstitions at- 
tached to several others, as the black poplar and the 
Rowan tree. 
In the Language of Flowers— 
“The rose is a sign of joy and love,— 
Young blushing love in its early dawn, 
And the mildness that suits the gentle dove, 
From the myrtle’s snowy flower is drawn. 
“ Innocence shines in the lily’s bell, 
Fure as the hoart in its native heaven; 
Fame’s bright star, and Glory’s swell, 
By the glossy leaf of the bay is given. 
“ The silent, soft, and humble heart 
In the violet’s hidden sweetness breathes. 
And the tender soul that cannot part, 
A twine of evergreen fondly wreathes. 

