The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-25 00:00:00

LITERATURE

THE POETICA'L LANGUAGE of FLOWERS.
By Thomas Miller.

Beautiful Annuals, and Keepsakes, and Drawing-
room Scrap-books, we have seen in abundance, but a
little volume more dainty in its conception, more
exquisite in its embellishment, more delicate in its
binding, or more unaffectedly poetical, and natural,
and graceiul in its literary contents, we cannot call
to our remembrance. Thomas Miller has recounted
his Pilgrimage of Love with a heart alive to tha
sweets and glories of that :Nature which he has so
often apostrophized in verse. Herrick yearned over
the blossoms of the field, and so does Ali Hen Burns
sighed for the daisy " crushed amang the stour," and
cried out, as if in the sorrow of his soul—

" To save thee now is past my power,
Thou bonny gem !
_ . .

Miller would have leaned over the shafts of his
plough as pensively had he been a working farmer.
Perdita laments in the Winter's Tale—
" 0 Proserpina,
For the flowers now that, frighted, thou let'st fall
From Dis's waggon Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty ; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes,
Or Cytherea's breath ; pale primroses
That die unmarried e'er they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength • bold ox-lips and
The crown-imperial ; lilies of all kinds,
The fleur-de-lis being one ! 0 these we lack ! "
Thomas Miller would have sympathised with
Perdita, and he would have hearkened tenderly to
the mad song of Ophelia—" There's fennel for you,
and columbines :—there's rue for you, and here's some
for me."
Robert Nicoll in a similar strain, though not so
melancholy withal, carolled thus of the wild flowers—
" Beautiful children of the woods and fields!

That bloom by mountain streamlets 'mid the heather,
Or into clusters 'neath the hazel gather—
Or where by hoary rocks you make your bields,
And sweetly flourish on through summer weather—
/. /ove you all I"
Those words we feel are echoed in the heart of
Thomas Miller. So earnest indeed is the affection
of our author for flowers that we suspect he draws
from them a subtle philosophy, such a philosophy as
'that of Herrick when he lamented to the daffodils—
" We die,
As your hours do; and dry
Away
Like to the summer's rain,
Or as the pearls of morning dew,
Ne'er to be found again."
Finding sermons not in stones, or books in the
running brooks but in the green leaves and the young
buds, we can fancy the joy poor Thomas Miller had
before his eyes failed him and he grew blind, in
wandering through the lanes and among the brambles,
seeing may-be the sweet verse of Bryant realised—
" When beechen buds begin to swell,
And woods the blue-bird's warble know
The yellow violet's modest bell
Peeps from the last year's leaves below."
Stumbling now about the meadows he might think
like Thomas Campbell of the days—
" When daisies and buttercups gladdened his sight,
Like treasures of silver and gold."

As the utterance of the author-'s love of flowers,
this book is touching and grateful to us; the thoughts
it contains have a perfume about them of poetry.
And of the graceful manner in which Thomas Miller
defines the origin of the symbolic language of his
favourite blossoms we cannot speak too highly. Here
is one description :—tracing the attributes of humility
to " broom," of constancy to " blue-bells," of purity
to " water-lilies," and of remembrance to " rose-
mary."
" Who can tell what sad feelings hung about the heart
of the fair Saxon Princess Rowena, when standing in
the twilight on the broom-covered steep hill side, she
saw from the distance the fires kindled by the hands of
tl-e desolating Dane, and beheld the flames which
devoured the home of her childhood reddening
the evening sky ? It might be, that whilst she
found a couch amongst the waving gold of the
wild, surrounded by her houseless attendants, and
pillowed her beautiful head upon the broom, she
selected it as the emblem of humility. And when she
saw the waving blue-bells spring up on the very spot
where the stormy sea-kings had encamped, where the
tide of battle had raged, and swollen and subsided,
leaving no other trace of its course than the silent ridges
which had heaved up over the dead. She selected the
blue-cupped flower as the true image of constancy,
which, though crushed, and bruised, and buried, for-
saketh not the chosen spot where its beauty first
bloomed. That, when she sat mournful beside the
moorland lake, wearied through carrying water to quench
the thirst of the brave Saxons, who had been wounded
in battle, she saw the pale water-lilies sleeping upon
their darkgreen velvet leaves, spotless as the clear ele-
ment upon which they floated, and leaving no vestige of
the gross earth from which they sprung ; and she
thought how the heart of a woman, ennobled by virtuous
deeds, might become so purified that, if looked into by
the eye of an angel, he could not discover within either
blot, or blemish, nor aught that varied from his own
divinity but the fond humanity of love. Musing, she
might conjure up some grey old Saxon abbey, nestling
amid the silence of a green sequestered valley, with its
quiet graves, around which the rosemary grew, hal-
lowed the more in its remembrance through having been
brought by holy men across the pathless sea ; and she
might think that, even as that plant put forth its flowers
in the dead midnight of winter, so through the
deep clouds which hung over and darkened her native land
the morning of peace might yet break, and see many a
battle-field again overgrown with flowers."
The plates, drawn and coloured by James An-
drews, are exquisite compositions ; they cannot be
mentioned in language of too much eulogium. From
the frontispiece—a dainty conceit, expressive en-
tirely of the purport of the volume, being a sketch of
the antique group of Cupid and Psyche exchanging
the hymeneal kiss, and partially concealed in a maze
of honeysuckles, blue-bells, lilies and roses—down to
the final embellishment—a bunch, consisting of the
crocus, the pimpernel, the Lancaster rose and the
cowslip, and representing the sentiment, " Your
youthfulness causes me to fear that you may change :
once united I shall be no longer pensive"—every line
has a graceful truth, every hue is brilliant as in na-
ture. For the satisfaction of our lady-readers, we
will catalogue a few of the most usual flowers in our
parterres and orchards, so that, without having robbed
the book in any flagrant manner through our columns,
they may be enabled to talk very prettily without
speaking when roving in their gardens, or when
strolling through the meadows " when the bloom is
on the rye."
Apple-blossom Preference
Apricot-blossom Doubt
Balsam Impatience
Bindweed Insinuation

Bramble Fnvy
Buttercup Ingratitude

Canterbury Bell Constancy
Convolvulus Repose
Cowslip Pensiveness
Crocus Youthfulness
Daisy
Dandelion Foresight
Eglantine or sweet- briar Poetry
Fuchsia Taste
Harebell Happy retirement
Heath Solitude
Ivy Friendship
Jasmine Amiableness
Jonquil Desire
Lilac First emotions of love
Lily of the Valley Return of happiness
Marigold Grief or pain
Mignionette Unconscious beauty
Myrtle Love
Nettle
Orange Blossom Chastity
Pansy Thought
Pimpernel Assignation
Primrose Forsaken

Rose Beauty

Rosebud, Nloss Confession of love
Snapdragon Refusal
Snowdrop Youthful hope
S weetpea Pleasure
Tulip Declaration of love
Violet, Blue Modesty
Violet, White Candour
Wallflower Fidelity i❑ misfortune
Wild Plum Blossom lndependence
Withered Leaves.. Sadness

Yellow Day Lily Coquetry
Knowing these rudiments in the science of the
symbolism of flowers, it may become a question at
law possibly whether the presentation of a particular
nosegay does not render a man liable to an action for
" breach of promise," especially if the nosegay should
consist of myrtle, a moss rosebud, a white violet, a
snowdrop, and a tulip. It may become a question,
again, whether a scrap of pimpernel may not signify
" half-past seven in the Temple Garden ;" or whe-
ther a presentation of ivy, retorted by a sprig of
fuchsia, may not justify the offering of a yellow day
lily ? This charming volume by Thomas Miller is
suggestive of a multitude of similar conjectures. As
a pocket companion in the green fields, as a favourite
decoration of the boudoir, as the resource of continual
amusement, this book, explanatory of the " Language
of Flowers," is one of the gems of the season.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN SCHOOLS.--Yesterday the
fortieth annual examination of the boys (600 in number)
educated in the above schools, was held in the School-
house, in the Borough-road, St. George's, Southwark,
the Earl of Chichester in the chair. There was a nume-
rous assemblage of ladies and gentlemen present,
amongst whom were Lord and Lady Ebrington, S. Gur-
ney, Esq., and many popular friends to the promotion of
education. The Noble Chairman briefly addressed the
meeting, expressive of his continued attachment and
approval of the system of education pursued in the esta-
blishment. The examination of the younger classes
classes in
-12
prose and verse, and the higher
clastalesarithmetic, and
\
map drawing, general history, men
their specimens (500 in number)
drawings, was of the most satisfactory
cited the warm approbation of t fac of figure and othery
nature, and eli•
tor
he Noble Chairman and
those present. The proceedings closed with singing
several pieces of music on ii.ullah's system, and which
were admirably executed.

411:--i'z
,/,-,,..W

COURT CIRCULAR.
The Queen held a Court yesterday afterno4a4
ingham Palace.

Ve-4-
07. If

Count de St. Aulaire, Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary from Lis Majesty the King of the
French, had an audience of her Majesty, on his return
to his Embassy at the British Court. His Excellency
was introduced by 'Viscount Palmerston, G.C.8., her
Majesty's Princ:pal Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, and conducted by Colonel the lion. Sir Edward
Cost, K.C.H., her 'Majesty's Master of the Ceremonies.
The Queen was attended by Lori Byron, Lord in
Waiting, and Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, Groom
in Waiting. .

Viscount Palmerston had an audience of her Majesty
yesterday. -

- The Queen and Prince Albert visited her Majesty the
Queen Dowager yesterday; at Marlborough Douse. The
Equerries in Waiting, Lord Alfred Paget and Colonel
Buuverie attended on horseback.

Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians
visited her Majesty the Queen Dowager yesterday, at
Marlborough House ; the Duchess of Gloucester, at
Gloucester House ; and the Duke and Duchess of Cam-
bridge, at Cambridge House.
Their Royal llighnesses the Duchesss of Gloucester
and the Duke of Cambridge visited their Majesties the
King and Queen of the Belgians yesterday, at Bucking-
ham Palace.

The Royal dinner party at Buckingham Palace yes-
terday included their Majesties the King and Queen of
the Belgians, the Belgian Minister and Madame Van de
Weyer, the Duchess of Sutherland 'and Lady Caroline
Leveson Gower, the Countess Vanderstraten, the Earl
Spencer, M. de Moerkerke and Dr. Carswell.
The Band of the Coldstream Guards was in attend-
ance during dinner, and performed the following
pieces :

Overture—" Leonora"—Beethoven.
Waltz—" The Garland"—Kcenig.
Quartetto and Semi-Chorus " No, no, ahirad
(Joseph)—Mehul.
Quadrille—" The Phantom Dancers"—Jullien.
Polka—" The Presburger"—Snoboda.
The Queen had afterwards an evening party.
Their Royal Highnesses the Hereditary Grand Duke
and Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar arrived at nine
o'clock, accompanied by his Serene Highness Prince
Edward of Saxe-Weimar, and attended by the Countess
of Assenburg, Count de Beust, and Baron de Ziegesar.
His Royal_Highness Prince George arrived soon af-
terwards.

Thdir Royal Highnesses 'the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge arrived at ten o'clock. attended by Lady
Augusta Cadogan and Mr. Edmond Mildmay.
Her Majesty's private Band attended.

The following had the honour of receiving invitations:
—His Serene Highness Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar,
his Serene Highness Prince Lowenstein, Princess and
Princess F. Leichtenstein, the French Ambassador and
the Countess de St. Aulaire, the Austrian Ambassador
and the Countess Dietricbstein, the Netherlands Minis-
ter, the Saxon Minister and Baroness de Beust, the
Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, the Ladies Mary and
Adeliza Howard, the Marquis and Marchioness of Dou-
-1 glas, the Marquis and Marchioness of Westminster,
Lady Carolina Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor, the Marquis
and Marchioness of Abercorn, the Marquis and Mar-
chioness of Worcester, the Lady in Waiting to the Queen
Dowager, Lady Augusta Cadogan, Mr. Edmond
Mildmay, the Countess of Assenburg, Count de Beust,
Baron de Ziegesar, the Countess of Mount Edgecumbe,
the Misses Macdonald, the Earl Howe, Viscount anti
Viscountess Palmerston, Count Potocki, the Right Hon.
Sir John and Miss Hobhouse, Lord and Lady Alfred
Paget, Mr. G. E. and the Hon. Mrs. Anson, Lady
Harriet Anson, Lord and Lady Colborne and the Hon.
Miss Ridley Colborne, Lord and Lady Beauvale, Lord
Edward Howard, Lady Adelaide Paget, Lady Elizabeth
and the Misses Dawson, and Captain Francis Seymour.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Gloucester
and the Duchess of Cambridge visited her Majesty the
Queen Dowager yesterday at Marlborough House.

- The Duchess of Gloucester honoured the Duke and
Duchess of Beaufort with her company at dinner last
evening, at their residence in Arlington-street.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, attended by
Lady Augusta Cadogan and Baron Knesebeck, honoured
Viscount and Viscountess Combermere with their com-
pany at dinner yesterday evening, at their residence in
Belgrave-square.
Bishop Wilson had an interview with Earl Grey yes-
terday at the Colonial-office.
A deputation consisting of Mr. Macgregor Laird and
Mr. J. I'. Clay, on behalf of the Birkenhead Dock Com-
pany ; Captain Charlwood, R.N., on behalf of the
Cheshire Junction Railway ; Mr. Rigge, on behalf of
the Chester and Birkenhead ; and Mr. Davies, on behalf
of Mr. Vyner, had an interview with the Chancellor of
the Exchequer yesterday.
The Hon. William Temple transacted business yester-
day at the Foreign-office.
Mr. P. S. Carey had an interview with Sir George
Grey yesterday at the Home-office.
Sir Robert Price, Dr. Bowring, and a deputation, had
an interview with the Right Hon. Edward Strutt yes-
terday.
The following Ministers were present at the Cabinet
dinner given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on
Wednesday :—Lord John Russell, the Lord Chancellor,
the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of )pinto, the Earl
of Clarendon, Sir George Grey, Viscount Palmerston,
Earl Grey, Earl of Auckland, Sir John Hobhouse, Lord
Campbell, Viscount Morpeth, Marquis of Clanricarde,
the Right Hon. T. B. Macaulay, and the Right Hon. H.
Labouchere.
The Ecclesiastical Corns
general meeting yesterday.
Dispatches were sent off yesterday evening from the
Colonial Office for the Governors of Hong-Kong and
Ceylon.

?ra for England had a

ROYAL COMMISSION of FINE ARTS
The exhibition of the oil paintings sent in pursuant
of notices issued by her Majesty's Commissioners of
Fine Arts in 1844, will be thrown open to the public on
Monday next.

The exhibition, as on former occasions, will take place
in Westminster Hall, the interior of which has been ap-
propriately fitted up for the reception of the paintings.
The notice- issued by the Commissioners required that
all pictures sent in for competition should be delivered
during the first week in June, 1847. The terms of this
notice were strictly observed, and the intervening period
has been occupied by the Commissioners in arranging
the various subjects, and determining on their respective
merits. The final arrangements were only completed on
Wednesday last, and yesterday afternoon the judges met
to award the premiums, which, as our readers are doubt-
less aware, consist of—
Three prizes of 5001, each,
Three prizes of 3001. each, and
Three prizes of 2001. each.
. ..

The following is a list of the successful artists:—
In the First Class, 5001.—Mr. F. B. Pickeragill, 8,
Leigh-street, Burton-crescent; Mr. G. F. Watts, 48,
Cambridge-street, Edgware-road ; Mr. Edward Armitage,
13, George-street, Adelphi.
In the Second Class, 3001.—Mr. John Cross, 85,
Fetter-lane; Mr. Paul Falconer Poole, 1, St. John's-
place, Lisson-grove North; Mr. Noel Paton, Wooer's-
alley Cottage, Dunfermline, N.B.
In the Third Class, 2001.—Mr. James Eckford Lau-
der, 35, Upper Charlotte-street, Fitzroy-square ; Mr.
Charles Lucy, Tudor Lodge, Albert-street, Mornington.
crescent; Mr. John Calcott Horsley, The Mall, Ken-
sington Gr av el- pits.
Only two Royal Academicians, Sir William Allen and
Mr. Henry Howard, have competed on the present
occasion, but there are many contributors whose names
are a sufficient guarantee for the excellence of their
works. .

The exhibition contains altogether 120 paintings,
many of them of very large dimensions. The pictures
excluded by the Commissioners are understood not to
have been very numerous.

No official announcement of the awards having as
yet been issued, we are unable to give a complete list of
the successful subjects. A few have, however, trans-
pired; and among them we may mention those of Mr.
Pickersgill, who has chosen for his subject " The Burial
of Harold, at Waltham Abbey, A.D. 1066;" of Mr. Ed-
ward Armitage, who has selected "The Battle of Meeanee
(Sinde), fought on the 17 th of February, 1843;" of Mr.
Cross, who has delineated the incident of " Richard
Coeur de Lion forgiving Bertrand de Guerdon ;" of
Mr. Poole, who illustrates an historical incident in
the life of King Edward during the siege of
Calais in 1346 ; of Mr. Lucy, whose picture de-
scribes " The Departure of the Primitive Puritans,"
or " Pilgrim Fathers " to the coast of America,
A.D., 1620 ; and of Mr. Horsley, who has chosen the
incident in the life of Henry V., when he, while Prince
of Wales, believing the king his father to be dead, takes
the crown from the cushion, and places it upon his own
head.

" The Banishment of Aristides, illustrative of the
injustice of Democracy," the latest effort of poor Hay-
don, has been admitted to the exhibition by the Com-
missioners, though not strictly within the conditions of
the notice. _ _

The exhibition also contains three pieces of sculp.
ture, executed respectively by Messrs. Marshall, Fo-
ley, and Bell, who, it will be recollected, were suc-
cessful in that department of art in the competition
which took place in 1845. Mr. Marshall's work is the
only oue completed, the two others being merely plaster
models.
Her Majesty the Queen and the Prince Consort,
and the King and Queen of the Belgians, will honour
the exhibition with a visit this afternoon previous to
the private view, which is arranged to take place to-
morrow.

THE CROPS AT EXETER.—Any decisicn as to
disease having taken place in the English crop of pota-
toes must be considered at present premature. The
Agricultural Society of Ireland have decided against its
existence ; and it has been found in some cases in this
county, that plants partially struck with the disease, and
from which-the most disastrous consequences were fore-
boded to the whole crop, have recovered from the atack
This suggests the possibility of the disease being on the
wane. It looks as if the root was recovering strength,
and shaking off its foe. Should the potato crop prove
a moderately favourable one, it will, co-existent with
the magnificent prospect of a corn harvest here, as well
as throughout the whole continent of Europe and Ame-
rica, cause imports, especially in corn, as a natural con-
sequence, to be lessened, and exports to increase ; and
thus there will be a tendency to an influx of the precious
metals into Great Britain for the purchase of her manu-
factures, whilst the speculators in grain having realised
large profits by their former conversions of funded and
railway property for the former purpose, are likely to
re-invest in such securities. now that they are at so low-
s value.—From the circular of Mr. R. Tripp, share.
broker.

We learn by the Levant mail that Dr. Bell, the
physician of the English Embassy in Persia, had died
at Erzerouna, on his way to Lnglancl, for the recovery of
big kola).

S f 3

BASKERS AND OTHERS.
ABILL at SIGHT, dated 19th JuNE, 1847, and
DRAWN by Messrs. BECKETT and CO., of LEEDS, on
GLYN, HALLIFAX, and CO., for 6231. 95., and PAT ABLE to
THOMAS DODSWORTH, or order, hag been FRAUDULENTLY
OBTAINED, and PAYMENT is therefore STOPPED.
It is requested that any person attempting to pay or raise
money on the Draft may be detained, and information imme-
diately forwarded Mr. Read, chief constable, Leeds ;to Mr.
.141Manns, of Hull ;tor either of the abovenamed Bankers.

itrlW IQTBIN BY NIBS. GASCOIGNE.
Sow read y at all the Libraries, in 3 yols,
E
VBLYN lIARCOUR T.
By the Authoresmf
1111[PTATION ; or, A WI/VS PERILS," Ike.
"A very Weyer, spirited, and eloquent book7'—Court Journal.
"Ono of the bast and most pleasing novels of the season. We
Noel no hesitation is recommeiding it as exocedingly well written
and conceive], and as proceeding throughout upon an unexception-
able and sound moral lesson of real life."—Messenger.
marry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street,

RAILWAY SHARES BY PUBLIC SALE.
MESSRS. LAMOND and Co., RAILWAY
SHARE AUCTIONEERS, beg to thank their Friends
and the Public for their continued support and patronage, and
to announce that their Public Sales of Railway Shares, &c..
take place every Tukinay and FRIDAY, at One o'clock, at the
Mall of Commerce, Threadneedle-street, London, to which place,
favours, containing instructions (with a reference), are respectfully
faquestod to be addressed.
All Scrip and Share Certincates must be deposited, the day
previous to their being offered ; and advices of results will be
forwarded by the first post after the sale, and the proceeds imme-
diately disposed of according to instructions.
Offices. Hall of Commerce, Threadneedle-street. London.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.
TO-MORROW EVENLNG, Saturday, June 26, will be performed
Tactic opera, of

ERNI:cf.
Nivlra, MU*. Costellan ; Don Carlos, Signor Superchia/ny Kowa,
Signor Bowan ; Ernani, Signor Fraschini.
After which will be presented a Divertissement, in which Mdlle.
Carlotta Galt, Mdlle. Rosati, and Mdlle. Cerito, IN in appear.
To be followed by the Grand Scena from TORQUATO TASSO, by
Signor Coletti.
To conclude with an tentirely new Ballet Divertissementlby M.
Perrot, the music by Signor Bajetti, of the Imperial theatre La
Scala, Milan, entitled

LES ELEMENS,
The Earth (personified by) Mdiles. Cassan, James, Honore ; the
Fire, 11(111e. Carlotta Grist ; the Water, Mdlle. Rosati ; the Air,
Mdlle. Cerito.
The Nobility, Subscribers to the Opera, and the Public, are re-
spectftilly Wormed. that there will be a grand EXTRA NIGHT
on THURSDAY NEXT, when will be presented Meyerbeer's opera
ROBERTO IL DIAVOLO.

Mdlle. Jenny Lind; Isabella, Made. Castellau ; Roberto, Signor
Fraschini ; Rambaldo, Signor Gardoni ; Sacerdote, Signor Bouche
and Bertram, signor Staudigl.
To be followed by various Entertainments in the BILLET DE-
PARTMENT, combining the talents of Mdlle. Carlotta Grisi,
Mdlle. Rosati, Mdlle. Cerito, M. Perrot, and M. St. Leon.
Pit Tickets may be obtained, as usual, at the Office of the Theatre,
price 10s. 6d. each.
The Select SWEDISH MELODIES will be repeated forthwith.