





vi THE LANGUAGE OF FLOIWERS. 

time, when the first vow of love is poured into the 
ear of the bashful, blushing, yet not unwilling 
maiden. Goldsmith describes 
““The Hawthorn-bush, with seats beneath the shade, 
For talking age and whispering lovers made.” 

The Hyacinth has been made emblematical of 
play or game. There was an annual solemnity, 
called Hyacinthia, held at Anycle, in Laconia, 
which lasted three days. According to an ancient 
fable, the flower originated in the blood of Ajax, who 
stabbed himself because the arms of Achilles were 
given to Ulysses and not to him. 
** As poets feigned, from Ajax’ streaming blood 
Arose, with grief inscribed, a mournful flower.” 
One of the most calumniated of plants is the 
Foxglove. As a. poisonous plant, this is shunned 
and disliked by many who do not know or consider | 
that it possesses very useful medicinal properties, 
teaching us that Ged hath made nothing but for 
' some wise end.. Miss Pardoe has attached a fine 
moral to this plant. She says: ‘‘ The foxglove, 
springing from amid the rocky masses by the way- 
side, is like virtue struggling with adversity, and | 
| seeming doubly beautiful from the contrast.” | 
The pretty little Forget-me-not has been trans- | 
planted by Miss Strickland from the dubious light 








