and look upon certain flowers, which they never gather, as the abode of nymphs and sylphs. The care of watering these plants is confided to virgin Bramins. They are likewise occupied in wreathing garlands for the decoration of the temples and their own ornament. The young

Bayaderes cover their heads with the immense corolla of the long-rooted birth wort; they make necklaces of the mugris, and belts of the black alder.

In Egypt this passion was carried so far that Amasis, from a private soldier, became general of the armies of King Partanis, for having presented him with a crown of flowers: afterwards this same Amasis was seated on the Egyptian throne ;-thus a crown was the reward of a simple garland. The Greeks, disciples of the Egyptians, gave themselves up to the same taste. At Athens, baskets full of flowers were taken every day to the market, and were bought immediately. In that celebrated city the charming contest between Pausias, a celebrated painter of Sycione, and the flower-girl Glycera, took place; it was very pleasing, says Pliny, to see the natural work of Glycera combatting the art

of Pausias, who, at last, painted her seated, wreathing a garland of flowers. Flowers were

not then, as they are now, the ornament of altars and beauty; but young men were crowned with them in games, priests in ceremonies, and guests in feasts. Nosegays and garlands were suspended over doors on happy occasions; and what appears most remarkable, and most foreign to our customs, philosophers themselves wore crowns; and warriors adorned their heads with them on triumphal days; for crowns soon became the price and recompense of talent, virtue, and great actions. Time, the destroyer of empires, has preserved this emblematical language; crowns of oak, myrtle, roses, and laurel, are still given to warriors, poets, and lovers. The flowers consecrated to the gods were the symbols of their character and power. The majestic lily belonged to Juno, the poppy to Ceres, the asphodel to departed ghosts, the laurel to Apollo, the olive to Minerva, the ivy to Bacchus, the poplar to Hercules, the cypress to Pluto, and the oak to Jupiter. The taste and usage of flowers passed from the Greeks to the Romans, who carried this luxury to excess; they changed

their crowns three times during one repast: they believed that a wreath of roses refreshed them, and preserved them from the fumes of the wine; but, soon wishing to increase their pleasure, they heaped flowers round them, so that they produced the effect they were intended to prevent. Heliogabalus strewed his beds, apartments, and porticoes, with the rarest flowers, and before him Cicero reproached Verres with having travelled through Sicily seated on roses, with a crown of flowers on his head, and another round his neck.

In the middle age the culture of flowers was abandoned; in barbarous ages the earth appeared to become less prolific, and afforded but a precarious subsistence to its rude inhabitants. The passion for flowers took place amongst us with the march of gallantry; the reign of beauty was, likewise, that of flowers; then every thing had an expression; the formation of a nosegay was not an indifferent thing, each flower had its signification. If a knight set out for a distant expedition, his chaplet, formed of week-stock and cherry blossoms, seemed to say to his lady, "Remember me, forget me not." If he had

chosen a lady, and begged the honour of serving her, the young beauty, crowned with white chinaasters, appeared to say, "I will think of it." If she wished the happiness of her lover, she prepared a wreath of white roses, that signified, "I love you." But if the vows were rejected, the flowers of the dandelion indicated that her heart was given that the lover supplicated in vain. Laurel leaves represented certain happiness; lilies of the valley, or corn-flag, announced nobleness, purity of action and conduct; little branches of yew tree indicated that they should live happy together; and a bouquet of basil shewed that they were displeased, and had even quarrelled. In this primitive age, love, armed with a bouquet, dared everything; a flower in the hand often expressed more than the most tender written communication.

The Turks, like the Orientals, use flowers as a language, but they have corrupted it by mixing with their significations that of ribbons, stuffs, and a thousand other things: but they still preserve a most ardent taste for flowers, and, notwithstanding their natural avarice, they often spend more for a nosegay than a diamond.

Their feast of tulips is so magnificent that the description of it appears wonderful even in the marvellous pages of the Arabian Nights.

Since the discovery of the new world, able botanists have enriched our gardens with every variety of flowers, and in Autumn, they present specimens from all countries. Each flower has its signification, and we receive it with renewed pleasure. We have endeavoured to class some of them by seeking in the nature of each plant an affinity with our moral affections. Ancient poetry frequently affords us these happy comparisons, and we owe to them our most delightful ideas and best similies. Let us imagine, then, that flowers possess life and sensation, and their language may become universal. The crowns

of the ancients shall be the first characters; we have borrowed the others from the Eastern nations, who showed us their types in their most beautiful flowers, and we have chosen some from the book of Nature, whose leaves are spread over all the earth.