INTRODUCTION. 23 
taken from the nests found in the hedges 
around. Garlands are also suspended over the 
streets by cords passing from one window to 
another on the opposite side. Boys also deck 
their hats with a twig of the oak tree, the 
leaves of which they ornament with gold leaf. 
To pass, however, more immediately to the 
contents of this little work, we would observe, 
that the sentimental language of Flora is by 
no means of modern inyention. ‘“ The hiero- 
glyphics of the ancient Hgyptians abound in 
floral symbols, and from hence we may sur- 
mise that the Greeks became accustomed to 
this figurative language. Their poetical fables 
are full of the metamorphoses of their deities 
into plants; indeed, there was no flower to 
which their imaginations had not affixed some 
meaning; even to this day a young Arcadian 
is seldom seen without his turban full of 
flowers, presented to him by the beauty he 
admires, by the silent language of which his 
hopes are kept alive ; and it forms one of the 
chief amusements of the Greek girls to drop 
these symbols of their esteem or scorn, upon 


