Page [iii]

 
                          INTRODUCTION. 
AT the present period, when the studies of youth are arranged so as to blend
information 
with amusement, when the accomplishments are considered merely as the relaxation
of the 
mind, I have thought this volume on Flowers (which comprehends a botanical
account of 
each specimen, the appropriate emblem, accompanied, with instructions for
copying the 
design) might afford a chaste recreation, and contribute to encourage a taste
for Flowers, and 
for that delightful art which teaches us- 
                       " To look through Nature up to Nature's God."
For as Henry G. Bell beautifully remarks- 
                                 -, There is religion in a flower; 
                         Its still small voice is as the voice of conscience:
                         Mountains and oceans, planets, suns, and systems,
                         Bear not the impress of Almighty Power, 
                         In characters more legible than those 
                         Which He hath written on the tiniest flower, 
                         Whose light bell bends beneath the dew-drop's weight."
     The language of Flowers dates its existence with the world itself; it
is a kind of parable 
which speaks to the eye, through which medium it is transmitted to the heart.
It has aided 
gratitude, affection, benevolence and piety, by its silent eloquence, in
the expression of the 
finest feelings and sentiments.    Affliction has often  been  soothed by
an emblematical 
communication of sentiment. " Roucher, when imprisoned by the revolutionary
tribunal 
of France, amused himself in the study of Floral language, his daughter being
permitted to 
send flowers to the prison. A few days before he met his fate, he returned
to his favourite 
child two dried lilies to express both the purity of his heart and the fate
which awaited him." 
Klopstock assuaged his grief by planting white lilies on the grave of his
beloved Meta. 
     To the Persians, but particularly the Greeks, Flowers appear to have
been a kind of 
poetic language whereby they have expressed an intensity of feeling unutterable
in common 
language. Their grief, their joy, their religion and sports, their gratitude
and admiration, 
have all been expressed by Flowers- 
                         ,,_           - that tell 
                         What words can never speak so well."