Ber I ey 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
ficed every personal convenience and selfish 
motive for the sake of illustrating the volume 
of nature, and opening almost a new existence 
upon those whose researches are necessarily 
limited. But the love of flowers is not shared 
exclusively by the poet and the naturalist. 
Oh! no, the little child loves the flower garden, 
and watches with intense interest the early 
opening buds, such fair types of itself. The 
young, the middle aged, and the hoary head, 
silvered with the snows of three score years 
and ten; all, all hang with delight over the 
blooming parterre. The bud of infancy, the 
half expanded flower of youth, the perfect 
blooms of the meridian of life, and the droop- 
ing leaves of closing existence, are here all 
seen and noted. No wonder that man, in the 
beautifnl simplicity of earlier times, loved 
flowers, and hence formed an eloquent lan- 
guage, that spoke to the heart ina ‘ stil] small 
voice,’ more touching than the tenderest ac- 
cents. No wonder that the most lovely orna- 
ment for the young virgin was a chaplet of fair 
flowers; the most glorious distinction of the 
c2 








