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"While the snow yet glistens on the gnarled branches of
the oak, and on the turf of the meadows, a fringe of flowers appears on the
border of its white mantle. Is it spring already? Or is it winter still?
It is the time when the Primrose shows its saffron-tinted tufts. Come, gather
the flower of early youth.”
"With the first notes of the nightingale, I
shed upon the air the perfume of my ivory flowers. I am the Lily of the Valley,
Brother to the Lily, I love, like her, the banks of the stream, the deep shade
of woods, the solitudes of the valley. When men see me, they think of springs
that have passed away, and of former happiness, -- and I comfort them by
assurance that this happiness will return.”
“Bees come and buzz in my blossoms, and young
couples love to walk beneath my fragrant shade. From my dried leaves men obtain
a wholesome drink. My qualities are mildness, goodness, and utility. I am the
Linden – the flower of conjugal affection.”
“Everywhere my white stars are seen to sparkle
in the midst of my branches. I allow my supple and flexible limbs to be trained
as men please. They stretch me on palisades, -- they twine me around arbors, --
they spread me out like a curtain along the terrace of the castle, or make me
wind round the windows of the cottage. I comply with every demand – I am happy
in every situation. I am the jessamine – the flowers of Amiability – the friend
of the butterflies and the bees.”
Every flower, in its turn, spoke some word in
the ear of Jacobus.
“I shall be,“ he said, “great fool, forsooth,
if I do not commit to paper what I have just heard, With the aid of all these
charming things, I will write a short epic poem of sixteen cantos, which will
secure to me the place of minister, or at least, of first-valet de chamber to
the king.”
Jacobus did as he proposed. He passed a large
part of the night in listening to the flowers. As they all spake in a learned
style, -- that is, somewhat diffusely, -- he adopted the plan of abridging their
discourse. Being quite methodical in his habits, he reduced to alphabetical
order the following notes, which were to aid him in composing his little poem of
sixteen cantos.
Alphabetical list of
Flower names in English, French & Latin with Sentiment
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