the solitary places of the earth; to scatter them by myriads over the very desert "where no man is; on the wilderness where there is no man ;" sending rain, "to satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth." In our confined notions, we are often led to wonder why Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, why beauty, and flowers, and fruit, should be scattered so exuberantly where there are none to enjoy them. But the thoughts of the Almighty are not as our thoughts. He sees them; he doubtlessly delights to behold the beauty of his handiworks, and rejoices in that tide of glory which he has caused to flow wide through the universe. We know not, either, what spiritual eyes besides may behold them; for pleasant is the belief, that Myriads of spiritual creatures walk the earth. And how often does the gladness of uninhabited lands refresh the heart of the solitary traveller! When the distant and sea-tired voyager suddenly descries the blue mountain-tops, and the lofty crest of the palm-tree, and makes some green and pleasant island, where the verdant and blossoming forest-boughs wave in the spicy gale; where the living waters leap from the rocks, and millions of new and resplendent flowers brighten the fresh sward, what then is the joy of his heart! To Omnipotence creation costs not an effort, but to the desolate and the weary, how immense is the happiness thus prepared in the wilderness! Who does not recollect the exultation of Vaillant over a flower in the torrid wastes of Africa? A magnificent lily, which, growing on the banks of a river, filled the air far around with its delicious fragrance, and, as he observes, had been respected by all the animals of the district, and seemed defended even by its beauty. The affecting mention of the influence of a flower upon his mind in a time of suffering and despondency, in the heart of the same savage continent, by Mungo Park, is familiar to every one. In the East flowers are made to speak the language of sentiment. The custom of embellishing houses and garnishing tables with them haps the warmer the use of them caccio talks of bed-chambers: e ogni cosa di ano avere, piarrators of the sa di fiori di hey are much nd much less s. On Mayer holiday ocely decorated vn before the nany popular o grieve; but eautiful in the cannot but lahaps the most f flowers is that a, designating the circumstances, by ressive in the hand in her early spring, ow-drops, an antrey in his suddenly descries the blue mountain-tops, and the lofty crest of the palm-tree, and makes some green and pleasant island, where the verdant and blossoming forest-boughs wave in the spicy gale; where the living waters leap from the rocks, and millions of new and resplendent flowers brighten the fresh sward, what then is the joy of his heart! To Omnipotence creation costs not an effort, but to the desolate and the weary, how immense is the happiness thus prepared in the wilderness! Who does not recollect the exultation of Vaillant over a flower in the torrid wastes of Africa? A magnificent lily, which, growing on the banks of a river, filled the air far around with its delicious fragrance, and, as he observes, had been respected by all the animals of the district, and seemed defended even by its beauty. The affecting mention of the influence of a flower upon his mind in a time of suffering and despondency, in the heart of the same savage continent, by Mungo Park, is familiar to every one. In the East flowers are made to speak the language of sentiment. The custom of embellishing houses and garnishing tables with them is unquestionably eastern. Perhaps the warmer countries of Europe are less in the use of them than they were formerly. Boccaccio talks of them being disposed even in bed-chambers: "E nelle camere i letti fatti, e ogni cosa di fiori, quali nella stagione si potevano avere, piena:" and at the table of the narrators of the Decameron stories, as 66 Ogni cosa di fiori di ginestra coperta." In England they are much less used than on the Continent, and much less than they were by our ancestors. On Mayday, at Whitsuntide, and on other holiday occasions, the houses were profusely decorated with them, and they were strewn before the door. Over the extinction of many popular customs I cannot bring myself to grieve; but there is something so pure and beautiful in the plentiful use of flowers, that I cannot but lament the decay of these. Perhaps the most touching of our popular uses of flowers is that of strewing the dead with them, designating the age, sex, or other particular circumstances, by different flowers. How expressive in the hand of a fair young girl, cut off in her early spring, are a few pure and drooping snow-drops, an image exquisitely employed by Chantrey in his |
