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4a 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
soul with ravishing emotions, and opens before 
us the enchanted avenues of a world full of 
wonders. ‘ Flowers,’’ says Pliny, “are the 
joy of the shrubs which bear them.” This 
eminent observer of nature might also have 
added, “‘ and of those who love them and culti- 
vate them.” 
The interpreters of our sweetest sentiments, 
flowers lend their charms even to love—to that 
pure and chaste affection, which, as Plato ob- 
serves, is an inspiration from the gods. The ex- 
pression of this divine passion ought to be divine 
also, and it was to illustrate this that flowers 
were ingeniously made emblematical of our 
most delicate sentiments ; they do, in fact, utter 
in “ silent eloquence’? a language better than 
writing; they are the delicate symbols of the 
illusions of a tender heart and of a lively and 
brilliant imagination. In the glorious days of 
chivalry, the respectful lover oft made use of 
the sweet language of flowers. Gothic books 
are full of emblems composed of flowers; and 
we find, in the romance of Perceforét, that 
a garland of roses is the lover’s treasure. We 



