FLORAL POESY. 
INTRODUCTION. 
HE most charming of all gifts is one of flowers. 
A queen may give them to her subjects; and the 
poorest subject may offer them to a monarch. 
They are the representatives of all times and of all 
nations ; the pledges of all feelings. The infant plays 
with them, and gains his first idea of beauty from their 
blossoms ; the* lover gives them to his beloved; the 
bride wears them. We offer them te our beloved dead ; 
dynasties are represented by a flower; nations adopt 
them as their emblems. Universal is their hold on 
human sympathies; universal their language. 
Floral Poesy is, therefore, the most appropriate of all 
presents; and, in giving this title to a language of 
flowers, and a collection of charming poems on them, 
we believe we have not been guilty of a misnomer. 
Hood, in the following pretty lines, has afforded us 
an admirable introduction to our poetical Posie :— 
‘«¢Welcome, dear Heart, and a most kind good-morrow ; 
The day is gloomy, but our looks shall shine :— 
Flowers I have none to give thee, but I borrow 
Their sweetness in.a verse to speak for thine, 

