y- 
FLORAL RECORDS. 3 
Shakespeare, the High Priest of Nature, 
has been truer to her laws in his most poetic 
grouping of flowers, and has formed HIS 
garland of blossoms that breathe the air at 
the same period. 
It is impossible to speak of flowers with- 
out giving that unrivalled passage from the 
‘Winters Tale,” in which Perdita wishes 
for those which had faded, before the golden 
harvest came :— 
‘*O, Proserpina, 
For the flowers now that frighted thou lettest fall 
From Dis’s waggon ! daffodils, 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty ; violets dim, 
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes, 
Or Cytherea’s breath ; pale primroses, 
That die unmarried ere they can behold 
Bright Phoebus in his strength, . . - 
. . Bold oxlips and 
The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds, 
The flower-de-luce being one!” 
Surely this is the most lovely bouquet that 
poet ever wove! though all have rendered 
due homage to the flowers, from the little 
daisy up to the sovereign rose. 

