ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY THE GIFT OF Isabel Zucker class '26 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924067841738 THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS; OR, FLORA SYMBOLICA. INCLUDING FLORAL POETRY, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. JOHN INGRAM. ' Then took he up his garland, And did shew what every flower did signify." Philaster. Beaumont and Fletchbe. WITH ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS, PRINTED IN COLOURS BY TERRY. usae. LONDON AND NEW YORK: FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. 1887. Eliza Cook THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY HER FRIEND THE AUTHOR. ; Preface. e^^^s^ ^HE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS has probably called forth as many treatises in explanation of its few and simple rules as has any other mode of communicating ideas but I flatter myself that this book will be found to be the most complete work on the subject ever published —at least, in this country. I have thoroughly sifted, condensed, and augmented the productions of my many predecessors, and have endeavoured to render the present volume in every re- spect worthy the attention of the countless votaries which " " this science of sweet things attracts ; and, although I dare not boast that I have exhausted the subject, I may certainly affirm that followers will find little left to glean in the paths that I have traversed. As I have made use of the numerous anecdotes, legends, and poetical allusions herein contained, so vi Preface. have I acknowledged the sources whence they came. It there- fore only remains for me to take leave of my readers, with the hope that they will pardon my having detained them so long over a work of this description ; but " Unheeded flew the hours, For softly falls the foot of Time That only treads on flowers.'' J. H. INGRAM. Contents. Page Pagt Introduction . I Tuberose (Dangerous pleasures) 134 The Rose (Love) . 4 23 Broom (Humility) . 136 Hawthorn (Hope) 49 Poppy (Consolation. Oblivion) Z40 Myrtle (Love) 62 Pink (Pure love) 142 Jasmine (Amiability) 68 Furze (Anger) .... 144 Vervain (You enchant me) 72 Geranium (Deceit) . 146 Orange-blossom (Chastity) 75 Fuchsia (Taste) 145 Camphire (Artifice) 79 Almond-tree (Indiscretion) , 1^0 Anemone (Withered hopes. Forsaken) 82 Flos Adonis (Painful recollections) 152 Periwinkle (Tender recollections) 86 Arbutus (Thee only do I love) 154 Weei'inc Willow (Mourning) 88 Snowdrop (Friend in need. Hope.) r56 Asphodel (I will be faithful unto death) 94 Cowslip (Youthful beauty) 158 Aloe (Bitterness) 96 Celandine (Deceptive hopes). i6i Mezereon (Coquetry) zoo Dead Leaves (Melancholy) . 163 Sensitive Plant (Bashful love) 102 Heart's-ease (Think of me. Thoughts) 165 BuTTERCUPs(Riches. Memories of Child- Basil (Hatred). 170 hood) ... 105 Forget-me-not 172 Crocus (Cheerfulness) 107 Apple-blossom (Preference) . 177 Eglantine (Poetry) 110 Acanthus (The Arts) 181 Heliotrope (Devoted attachment). XI2 Evening Primrose (Silent love) 183 Lilac (Love's first emotions) . "4 Thyme (Activity) 186 Magnolia (Magnificence) xz6 Cypress (Mourning). 18S Judas Flower (Unbelief) X18 St. John's Wort (Superstition] 194 Dandelion (Oracle) 121 Marvel of Peru (Timidity) 197 Campanula (I will be ever constant) 123 Rosemary (Remembrance) 200 Hyacinth (Game. Play) 126 Corn (Abundance) . 204 Marvgold (Grief) .... 129 Tulip (A declaration of love) 20S Aster (After-thought> 132 Sycamore (Curiosity) . Contents. Paf-e Hollyhock (Ambition) , . .213 Ash (Grandeur) .... Lotos (Eloquence) .... 215 Wallflower (Fidelity in misfortune) Juniper (Protection) .... 220 The Lily of the Valley (Return of Camellia Japonic A (Supreme loveliness) 222 happiness) ...... Polyanthus (Confidence) . 224 Stock (Lasting beauty) Holly (Foresight) 226 Sweet William (Finesse. Dexterity) Foxglove (Insincerity) .... 231 Dahlia (Pomp) Pimpernel (Chang.-) .... 233 White Poplar (Courage. Time) Clover (I promise) 235 Black Poplar (Affliction) Acacia (Friendship) .... 237 Motherwort (Concealed love) Heath (Solitude) 239 Cornflower (Delicat-y) , Clematis (Artifice) 242 Aspen (Lamentation) Amaranth (Immortality) , . 244 Lemon (Zest) . Mandrake (Rarity) .... 247 Passion Flower (Faith). Speedwell (Fidelity) .... 249 Svrinca (Fraternal love). Narcissus (Self-love) , . 251 Andromeda (Will you help me?) Daffodil (Unrequited love) . 252 Parsley (Festivity) Iris (A message) . ... 254 Mistletoe (Give me a kiss) . Violet (Modesty) 256 Oak (Hospitality) Pkimrose (Youth) 262 Convolvulus (Night) Daisy (Innocence) . , . 266 Sunflower (False riches) Thistle (Independence) .... 269 Laurel (Glory). Bay (Fame) The Lily (Majesty). 272 The Floral Oracle MooNWORT (Forgetfulness) . 276 Typical Bouquets . The Crown Imperial (Power) . 278 Emblematic Garlands Mignonette (Your qualities surpass your The Vocabulary cliarms) .••,... 279 ; Flora Symbolica. f HAKSPEARE tells as that "fairies use flowers for tlieir charactery," and so, he might have added, do mortals, for the language of flowers is almost as ancient and universal a one as that of speech. The Chinese, whose chronicles antedate the historic records of all other nations, have, and ever seem to have had, a simple but complete mode of communicating "SllfS" ideas by means of florigraphic signs. The indestruct- ible monuments of the mighty Assyrian and Egyptian races bear upon their venerable surfaces a code of floral telegraphy that Time has been powerless to efface, but whose hieroglyphical meaning is veiled, or, at the best, I but dimly guessed at in our day. India, whose civilization had attained its full vigour whilst that of Greece was in its cradle, has ever been poetically ingenious in finding in her magnificent Flora significations applicable to human interest. Biblical lore abounds in comparisons between "the golden stars that in earth's firmament do shine," and the feelings and passions of poor mortality. Persian poetry is replete with blossomy similes whilst the mythology of the Greeks has been an apparently in- exhaustible storehouse to all authors in search of floral fancies. With the Hellenic race the symbolic language of flowers reached its culminating point of grandeur; and with the decline of Grecian glory faded away the brightest epoch in the history Tntrod uction. of florigrapby. In the eyes of the sterner-minded Latins this innocent study found less favour ; and although they adapted many of their Hellenic predecessors' legends and customs, in connection with this science of sweet things, to their own my- thology, yet so weakened was its hold upon the minds of the people, that when, in the course of events, the decadence of the Roman empire arrived, the attractive art was allowed to fade into comparative oblivion. With the revival of learning in the middle ages, this symbolic mode of correspondence once more rebloomed, and, under the especial protection of chivalry, played a far from unimportant part in contemporary history. No gallant knight or gentle dame could then aspire to good breed- ing, unless perfectly conversant with florigraphy, as then taught; and the names, at least, of many of Europe's proudest families owe their origin to some circumstance connected with their founders' favourite blossom. In those days, minstrels and minnesingers sang praises of their mistresses' chosen bloom ; the noblest knight and gayest squire broke many a lance, and emptied many a flagon, in honour' of a sprig of broom, or a bunch of violets, that some fair dame had perchance adopted as her device. Even kings, not contented with their regal crowns, did not deem it derogatory to their dignity to enter the lists, in order to do battle for the floral wreaths that beauty proffered as a guerdon for the victor. Thus every age and every clime promulgated its own pecu- liar system of floral signs ; and although now-a-days, as regards the larger portion of Europe, the language is in many respects a dead one, yet still, amongst several Oriental races, this em- blematic style of communication flourishea with much of its pristine importance. " In Eastern lands they talk in flowers, And they tell in a garland their loves and cares; Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers On its leaves a mystical language wears." It has been said that the language of flowers is as old as the days of Adam, and that the antiquity of floral emblems dates from the first throbbing of love in the human breasrt; and, indeed, to gain a glimpse of florigraphic symbolism, as it ap- peared in its earliest and freshest vigour, we should have to journey backwards far into the shadowy obscurity which en- Introduc tion. velopes the antediluvian history of mankind. Phillips, and other painstaking investigators, have, it is true, not contented themselves with general allusions to the unfathomable antiquity of the typical uses which were made of " Flowers, the sole luxury that Nature knew In Eden's pure and guiltless garden," but have endeavoured to resuscitate from their long sleep of thousands of years, the irretrievably lost floral systems with which the mighty Indian, Egyptian, Chaldean, and ancient Chinese nations " wiled away the hours." Of all peoples, however, of whom we appear to possess any reliable records, the Greeks may be accounted the earliest florigraphists, and they do seem not only to have entertained the most passionate love for flowers, but to have adapted them as typical of every interesting occurrence, public or private. Loudon, speaking of the continual symbolic use made by the Hellenic race of flowers, says, " not only were they then, as now, the ornament of beauty, and of the altars of the gods, but the youths crowned themselves with them in the fetes, the priests in religious ceremonies, and the guests in convivial meetings. Garlands of flowers were suspended from the gates of the city in times of rejoicing the philosophers wore crowns of flowers, and the warriors orna- mented their foreheads with them in times of triumph." We read in Aristophanes that a market for flowers was held in Athens, where vendors rapidly disposed of the baskets of blooms which they proffered to the admiring bystanders.