


eee 
vill INTRODUCTION. 
For instance, to tell a lady that she is a splendid 
beauty, and that you liye but in her smiles, would 
probably excite a doubt of her lover’s sincerity ; but 
present her with an amaryllis and a currant, the sen- 
timent is’ delicately conveyed, and would doubtless 
be approved. ‘Then, for those who are so bashful, 
or so uninitiated in the language of Cupid, that the 
very thought of making a declaration throws them 
into an intermittent fever, what more have they to 
do than present the object of their affections with a 
red tulip? If a lover’s suit is accepted, he will re- 
eeive in return a double daisy. Should the lady not 
be influenced by similar feelings, she may return a 
sprig of spiderwort; and should her objection be 
positive and insurmountable, a variegated pink. 
This delicate mode of signifying her adverse senti- 
meuts would surely soften the painful chagrin a re- 
jected admirer must always experience. 
In the East, the language of flowers has long been 
a favorite mode of communication among lovers. 
The education of the oriental women being less lib- 
eral than in more civilized countries, the art of writ- 
ing but little practiced among them, and freedom of 
intercourse strictly prohibited, some method of cor- 
respondence became indispensable, and flowers, there 
so beautiful and plenteous, naturally presented them- 
selves. 
‘Fach blossom that blooms in their garden bowers, 
On its leaves a mystic language bears.” —PERCIVAL. 
The whole of their emblems, however, have not 
been transmitted to us, and in the collection we pro- 
pose to lay before our readers, though much pains 
have been taken to attach a reason for each emblem, 

